Entropy
by ShadowBlah2
Summary: A year after the Zero Requiem Nunnally brings everyone together to watch two DVDs entitled 'R1' and 'R2.' Every question has an answer, but whether or not they can handle those answers is a question all in itself.
1. Entropy 1: The Gift of Truth

**Entropy 1: The Gift of Truth**

Empress Nunnally waited patiently in her wheelchair for everyone to arrive. She was in a small auditorium in her palace, seats to her each side and a blank screen to the front of the room, the same as any movie theatre but certainly more private. Zero stood dutifully beside her.

"Your Majesty," he wondered, his voice crisp and metallic through his mask's synthesizers, "are you really sure this is wise?"

Nunnally held back a frown. Suzaku was behind that helmet. She didn't know how, but she knew. He was wearing her older brother's mask and trying to mimic his poise and graceful speech. It came off to her as forced.

A year had passed since Lelouch died. Most the world hated him, but in Britannia a vast majority still hailed his name, his apparent mental decline mattering little to them in comparison to what he did while he was still sane. For one, he'd brought increased equality to the Empire's citizens, endearing him greatly to the peasants. Secondly, he'd defended the nation when, as far as they could see, the Black Knights had bombed their capital city of Pendragon with FLEIJA, defeating them and uniting the world under Britannian rule - quite a celebrated event since the Empire was trying to conquer everyone anyway. Even his assassination had only garnered the Demon Emperor more favour with Britannians, the people speaking out in support of their king, even deranged as he may have been, outraged at Zero, the most hated enemy in their kingdom's history, for stealing his life.

Only a speech by the newly crowned Empress Nunnally had brought Britannia back into line and talked them down from a potentially catastrophic revolt. In it, she'd extolled the former virtues of Lelouch vi Britannia and expressed the deepest regret that his death had become necessary as he slowly fell into tyrannical madness. She made no excuses for her brother's later actions, but appealed to what little popularity he still had as a reformer to convince the Empire it was time for peace.

Following that, the world proceeded to rebuild, its people certain they could ensure conflict of a world-wide scale would never occur again. The UFN rose to the peak of its efficiency, mediating between angered parties and resolving issues diplomatically with the benevolent guidance of Kaguya Sumeragi. Meanwhile, under their new Empress, Britannia was hesitantly being welcomed back into the global community and the legend of Zero was still hot in people's minds.

And yet, though everything was proceeding as perfectly as could be hoped for, Nunnally couldn't help but wonder why. Why was her only full-blooded brother dead when so many others, less-deserving than he, were still alive? Schneizel and Kanon for instance. The Second Prince, now Crown Prince since tricking her into bombing Pendragon, killing almost all her remaining family including First Prince Odysseus, seemed to be on Zero's leash, and Kanon had little creativity for mischief without his liege's guidance, but they were still alive and well despite their wrongdoings. Why? It was a question that nagged her for a year until...

"This is the best course of action, Zero," Nunnally replied to her caped companion, as decisive as she could.

She resented Suzaku's attempt to be something he wasn't, but then again, she was doing just the same thing, wasn't she? She was no great genius at the workings of politics or finances or anything else (she would've rathered been a nobody for the rest of her life), yet she still performed her role as queen even knowing in her every waking moment that Lelouch should've been the one to rule and not her.

The door to the home theatre opened and an imperial guard walked in, followed by a number of bewildered faces of varying familiarity to the young empress.

Tianzi and Xingke were there, Ohgi and Villetta and others from the Black Knights, Cornelia and other Britannians, Kallen and her friends from Ashford, and even Jeremiah and Sayoko and Anya, each bearing a suspicious glint in their eye as they traded looks with the other guests.

When everyone was finally in the room the guard pounded a fist against his chest, bowed to his queen, then took his leave, closing the door behind him. There was a prolonged silence as each person waited for another to speak, then, as was his way, Tamaki broke the ice, crass and to the point.

"So, is this a party, or...?" He raised his brows and shrugged. "You called us all here, and we are, so now what?"

The tension in the room parted as everyone became certain they weren't the only ones who didn't know why they were there. The Britannian Empress had sent each of these people a formal invitation to join her for an unspecified event, and even paid their travel expenses to help ensure they made it. Why? That was something they were still waiting on.

"Hello to you all," Nunnally nodded to her friends and family, and those she hardly even knew. "I'm very glad you could come. As I'm sure the guards told you, you'll get any weapons you were carrying back when you leave. You won't need them for what I have planned anyway."

Cornelia raised a brow at her sister's words.

"And what precisely would that be?"

"I'm sure you're a little confused as to why I asked you all to be here today, but please, before I explain, we should introduce ourselves-" she extended a hand of greeting, "-My name is Nunnally."

There was a murmur of surprise from the assembled crowd. Everyone already knew the Empress. It was hard not to. Still, order slowly grew from the chaos and Ohgi stepped forward, Villetta moving to join him.

"I'm Ohgi, and this is my wife Villetta."

Cornelia rolled her eyes

"My name is Cornelia li Britannia." She looked to Guilford beside her and he stood at attention. "Guilford?"

"Yes, Princess! I am Gilbert G.P. Guilford!"

More of the group began to introduce themselves, even if they were already well known.

"I'm Rivalz. It's nice to, uh, meet you all." The blue-haired boy was shaking with nerves being around so many important people, royals and soldiers alike.

"I am Kyoshiro Tohdoh."

"My name's... I'm Nina."

"The name's Tamaki! You already knew that though 'cuz I'm awesome, right?"

Kallen, Milly, and Gino went next, then Tianzi and Xingke, Kaguya, Chiba, Rakshata, then finally Lloyd and Cécile, and Jeremiah, Anya, Sayoko, and even Zero.

There was another pause. Though the war was over, the division between Britannian and Black Knight was a stark one, the previously unorganized crowd splitting during their short introductions into two distinct groups standing across from each other and glancing warily around for any sign of trickery.

Nunnally didn't notice the hostilities, or else she chose not to, throwing on a pleasant smile.

"There now," she declared, trying to refocus everyone's attention back to the matter at hand and away from past hatreds. "If everyone's quite ready, I'll explain why I've brought us all together."

Slowly, as everyone reassured themselves they weren't about to be stabbed in the back, they turned again to face Nunnally, their previous curiosity overwhelming their distrust for the other people in the room. Zero pulled something from his coat pocket and showed it off. It was a DVD case, unadorned except for bright slashes of red across it reading "R1." The Empress gestured to the case and continued.

"One week ago I found that in my chambers. There's also another, called 'R2.' I can't tell who put it there or why, or even how they managed to get it past the guards, but whoever it was left it with an attached note."

There were a few small gasps of surprise at the thought of someone intruding in the Empress's bedchambers, but they quieted down as she pulled a sheet of paper from the folds of her dress. There was a message there, apparently written out with a typewriter, the font bold, black Times New Roman. She began to read:

 _Empress of Britannia, Nunnally vi Britannia of the House Lamperouge,_

 _You have questions. We have seen this. The death of Lelouch vi Britannia weighs on your mind. We have felt this. You know what you're expected to believe and yet you do not. You desire answers. Time has come and gone, and now We present to you the Gift of Truth. Assemble the Cast of Characters, for gifts are to be shared, and witness for yourself what We have seen through Our infinite sight._

 _-C_

She lowered the sheet from her face to check the reactions of those in the room. There was only a blank stare from most of them, though Jeremiah, Sayoko and Anya appeared slightly disturbed, as if they knew something more than they were willing to admit. Recognition dawned on Kallen's face.

"C.C.!" She stomped and scowled to herself. "It was signed 'C,' so it must've been that pizza-witch! What's she up to!? If I could only get my hands-"

"No." All turned as Zero spoke. "It was not C.C. Of that I am sure."

Beneath his mask Suzaku bit his lip. He was fairly certain he knew where the letter came from, and if he was right it didn't bode well for the mortal world.

Nina offered a guess.

"Did you check for fingerprints?"

"We did," Zero nodded back. "There were none anywhere."

Lloyd had been thinking to himself in silence until this point, but now decided to act. With an intrigued grin he stepped away from Cécile and the rest of the guests, ignoring all protocol, and approached Zero, plucking the DVD case straight from his hand and checking it over. The others in the room looked around, wondering if they should stop him, or even just say something, but they refrained. Only Cécile didn't bother at all, merely shrugging to herself and sighing, knowing it wasn't worth it to get involved.

After flipping it about in his hand, taking his glasses off and scrutinizing it in the light, and even shaking it next to his ear to see if it rattled, Lloyd finally turned back to the others with a wide smile of childlike mirth and pointed to the DVD case.

"Let's watch it!"

Nunnally was about to say something along the same lines but held back as the mad scientist popped open the case and pulled out a single black disk, similarly slashed with the red title, and bounded over to a throng of machines by the theatre screen in search of a player. At last Cécile figured it was time to intervene.

"Lloyd, wait for permission!" She began to chase after him but Nunnally raised a hand.

"It's alright," she excused the odd man's actions while he continued searching for something to put the disk in. "I think that's what the note was saying. 'Assemble the Cast of Characters' and share the Truth with them. To be honest, the reason I called you all here was so we could watch it together."

"Ah-HA!" Lloyd called his success as a drive in one machine, apparently a DVD player, opened and he inserted the R1 disk. "Everyone take your seats, it's MOVIE NIGHT!"

The screen, almost as large as a real movie theatre's, powered on and the lights in the room dimmed. Nunnally smiled and gestured to the rows of seats, and although no one seemed particularly sure about this, (exceptions including Nunnally, Rakshata, Tianzi since she'd never been able to watch movies with friends before and found this to be a fun new experience, and Lloyd quite obviously) they filed quickly in to sit down, unsure of what they were about to see.

There was only blackness on the screen and whispers slithered from the surround sound speakers. They were quiet, but fast and overlapping, and growing in intensity. A sphere of cloudy orange appeared amongst the blackness on the screen.

"The hell is this surreal shit?" Tamaki interrupted. Rakshata replied heartily.

"Oh, that's Jupiter. It's a marvelous place reall-" She stopped at a shush from the others.

Though much of the whispering was beyond understanding, one voice seemed to repeat the same line over and over, louder and louder. Kaguya strained her ears and lowered her brow.

"Is that...?"

The voice was fairly clear now, echoing the same line.

 _ **"Don't stop the march of time."**_

The whispers stopped abruptly and the screen returned to blackness, only for a soft, repeating thump like a heartbeat to begin instead, red letters appearing to accompany it:

 **CODE GEASS**

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	2. Entropy 2: (R1,1) A New Demon Was Born

**Entropy 2: (R1;1) The Day A New Demon Was Born**

 **The darkness onscreen gave way to flashes of images overlapped with the chirps of a thousand cicadas. There were two boys, climbing up a steep hill of earth by a forest.**

Zero gulped and checked around the room. A sense of realization was dawning on a few faces around the theatre, their expressions as if they'd just been punched in the gut as the two boys were revealed.

"That's..." Cornelia started in shock. Kaguya and a few others shared her sentiment. "But that's impossible."

Tamaki raised a brow and looked from side to side.

"What? Are you seeing something I'm not? They're just some stupid kids, so why's everyone losin' their shit?"

Zero was thankful for his mask because at that moment he couldn't keep an insulted look from his face.

"Tamaki," Tohdoh interjected sternly. "That is Suzaku and Lelouch when they were but children."

"Huh? Were they being recorded?"

Nina shook her head.

"The way the camera keeps re-angling for each new shot doesn't make sense for a home video."

"Did they really know each other way back then?" Gino spoke up specifically for the first time. "I think I missed something."

Nunnally offered the Knight of Three a simple explanation.

"Our mother was assassinated, so the Emperor, our father, sent me and Lelouch to Japan because..." She honestly wasn't entirely sure why. She was too young to understand at the time and Lelouch wouldn't explain it to her, instead always deflecting the issue to something more pleasant. That probably meant the situation was even less ideal than it appeared at the time. "We met Suzaku and became friends with him. Best friends even."

There was a round of hushed chatter as those who were unaware of the two boys' past began to factor it with everything they already knew. The Ashford group was particularly intrigued.

"So that's why..." Nina realized why Lelouch hadn't been afraid when Suzaku joined the Academy. Even though Suzaku was an Eleven, there was already trust between them. It all made sense now.

Rivalz frowned and cocked his head to the side as a puzzled expression found its way onto his face.

"If I may, Your Majesty," he said, addressing Nunnally, "I'm still a bit unclear. Was Lelouch actually your brother?"

Nunnally raised an eyebrow at that comment.

"Yes, he was. He took care of me when we both went to Ashford. Don't you remember?"

"No, I don't remember that at all. But hey, that means Rolo is royalty too, right?"

"Who?" Nunnally didn't like where this conversation was going.

Milly joined in, just as confused as her counterpart.

"You know, Rolo Lamperouge? Lelouch's little brother? He's your age; even has the same birthday."

Kallen hadn't heard of him either, never meeting the teenage assassin, even after he joined the Black Knights. Listening to the others was getting her confused, and she scrunched her face in perplexed thought, trying to make sense of an impossible equation.

Only Milly and Rivalz remembered Rolo as Lelouch's brother, their minds still rewritten by Emperor Charles to replace Nunnally with a fake. Nina had luckily escaped that same fate, having left Ashford to work for Schneizel long before Charles could use his Geass on her. She shivered.

"Something's wrong. Why are our memories so different?"

Cornelia's blood started to run hot with rage as she listened to the banter. Their memories weren't lining up. That could only mean Geass was behind it! To think Lelouch would even twist the minds of his own friends!

Villetta, meanwhile, was feeling distinctly uncomfortable knowing the whole truth, and she made it a point not to explain, lest she reveal her own involvement. Zero, also knowing why the Ashford students were confused, hastily changed the subject.

"That is a topic for another time. Perhaps for now we should continue watching."

 **While the audience muttered amongst themselves the show had continued, a female voice explaining the details of the 2010 Britannian-Japanese Trade War.**

Kallen jumped to her feet in disgust.

"That's C.C.'s voice! I knew it! That green-haired bitch-tornado is behind this whole thing!"

"Ummmm..." Anya wasn't sure if she should say anything to convince Kallen otherwise. What could she say? That the witch had moved in with her and Jeremiah and Sayoko, and hadn't left the farm since? And could she even explain that she'd brought another immortal with her?

 **"I swear, Suzaku, so help me," the little Lelouch on the screen vowed. "I will one day obliterate Britannia!"**

"Oh c'mon," Gino said, actually a little upset at what he saw. "That doesn't make sense. He wanted to rule Britannia, not destroy it."

"Well, uh," Rivalz added meekly, "it does sound like something he'd say before he actually DID take over. He did a total one-eighty after that."

Cornelia nodded along. Yes, it made sense. Lelouch was filled with hate, that much was evident. At what point that blind lust for violence turned into a desire to rule the world though, she couldn't say. What she was sure of was her younger brother was a terror in any form he took. He _had_ to be heartless if he was able to take Euphemia's life.

 **There was an image of Mt. Fuji and the Tokyo Settlement at its base. Apparently this was some time after the previous clips because the date read 2017. The scene flipped next to that of a nobleman playing chess and...**

"Hey, what the..?!" Rivalz whipped his head back to check if a cameraman was behind him. On the screen was none other than him and Lelouch both, not noticing they were being filmed. "I remember that!"

 **"Where's Lelouch?"**

 **"He went somewhere with Rivalz."**

 **"What, maybe it's poker this time?**

 **"They seem to forget they're on the Student Council!" Shirley finally appeared, consternated and holding a fork, chatting with the other Student Council girls.**

Milly glanced to Nina, speechless for one of the first times in her life. Just like Rivalz she remembered that exchange, but hadn't noticed any cameras at the time. A look of sadness fell upon them both at seeing Shirley, and Rivalz, Kallen, Gino and Anya shared a similar reaction, reminded of their friend who so tragically committed suicide. Nunnally hadn't even found out about it until she put out the invitation for everyone to attend this event and Shirley hadn't responded, and seeing past events so shockingly portrayed before her, she began to feel something akin to hope well up within her that they'd learn what had driven the orangette to take her own life.

Behind his mask Zero only scowled. From the start he'd suspected foul play, laying all the blame of Shirley's death on Lelouch, certain that he'd used Geass to dispose of her. Up until this point he'd only had his own conjectures on the matter, but from what he'd seen so far he'd already been convinced. These DVDs would be the evidence to either incriminate or exhonerate Lelouch once and for all. Perhaps both at the same time.

 **Lelouch won his round of chess easily, cool and collected as always, and as he and Rivalz left the building a special report from Prince Clovis played.**

Tianzi put her hands to her mouth in horror.

"His heart was ripped from his chest only to be torn apart! And the remnants were filled with rage and sadness? Oh no!"

Xingke shook his head, a bewildered look on his face.

"I think it's an English idiom, Your Majesty. At least, I hope it is, because it sounds rather stupid to me."

Cornelia looked away, too embarrassed of her brother's theatrics for the public to bear looking at him. She couldn't deny his idiotic speeches were effective, but they were so incredibly melodramatic. The world never realized how much flavour it lost with the death of Clovis la Britannia.

"Hey look!" Tamaki laughed. "It's Diethard!"

Sure enough, Deithard was onscreen, checking through a folder of papers and stating his disdain for Britannian politics. Tamaki continued to laugh.

"Sleazy bastard. He was pretty cool for a Britannian though. Anybody know what ever happened to him?"

There was a shush from around the room and Tamaki shut up, shrugging and keeping his laughing fit to himself.

 **Bartley bumbled up to the prince once his speech was done. They discussed something briefly, something still a mystery to the audience watching, and Clovis deployed his forces, starting most importantly with Jeremiah Gottwald and Villetta Nu.**

"Hey, Coach," Rivalz asked, "since when were you a soldier?"

Villetta didn't reply. She didn't think it was a particularly good idea to mention the Ashford students being geassed into believing she was a teacher. However, by the way the show onscreen was going, putting every private moment on display, she had a bad feeling it was only a matter of time before they found out.

 **Rivalz and Lelouch were driving back to school as a truck came up behind them.**

 **"You idiot," Nagata swore, throwing the steering wheel to the side. "Watch where you're going!"**

 **"Wait, not that way!"**

Now it was Kallen's turn to gawk. Though her face was hidden, she recognized her own voice and her red hair, and from memory alone knew that she was the one to reply to Nagata's remark. It seemed everyone else had picked up on it as well. She smirked to Rivalz.

"If that's how you drive all the time, remind me to never ride with you on your bike."

"To be fair," he retorted with all seriousness, "you guys _were_ speeding."

 **The terrorist semi crashed and the scene briefly cut away to General Bartley. He seemed especially agitated, and as he walked to some unknown location his voice could be heard, yet his mouth did not move.**

Rakshata let out a long hum of interest.

"Whoever was filming this was able to get right into people's minds."

"No way," Chiba scoffed to the Indian woman. "That's impossible. It's probably a voiceover."

"Think whatever you want." Rakashata tutted and took a drag from her pipe. "I'll just be over here accepting reality. I know that's not one of your strong suits."

 **Lelouch narrowed his eyes as he glanced over at the truck. There was a sparkle coming from its roof, but as swiftly as it came, it vanished. He had to get a better look.**

 **"It's you!" As Lelouch climbed up the vehicle's side a feminine voice called to him, pounding into his mind and seemingly freezing time for a short second. "I've finally found my..."**

Gino glanced back and forth, sweeping his vision across the others in the darkened theatre around him.

"Uh... Are we going to talk about how Lelouch is seeing stuff that's not there?"

"He was probably schizophrenic," Chiba answered, gruff with distaste for agreeing with a Britannian. "No wonder he treated everyone around him like they were worthless."

The soldier woman's words struck a chord with Cécile, and she grimaced, holding back the fury that had started rising in her since Lelouch was cast down and labelled "villain." She wasn't sure how much hate-filled rhetoric against Lelouch she could tolerate before breaking character and defending his name. Instantly, Cécile was sure she was going to hate Chiba Nagisa.

 **Nagata pushed the truck into reverse and Lelouch dropped, falling into the dark of its cargo hold. He throttled forward again and the trucked jumped to, now being pursued by Britannian attack helicoptors. To this, Kallen got up from her seat and pulled her hat and coat away, revealing herself for the first time.**

"So, were you really sick or...?" Rivalz ventured, laying a confused stare onto the girl in question.

Kallen rolled her eyes.

"No, that was an act so I could get out of school."

"Oh, that makes sense." The blue-haired boy nodded slowly. "I was wondering how you managed to be a Black Knight with all your chronic conditions."

Kallen slapped a palm across her face and changed the subject.

"Lelouch was in there? How did I not notice him!?"

 **Kallen jumped out in her Glasgow and shot down two of the oncoming choppers, but a VTOL dropped down a Sutherland in the colours of the Purist Faction. It was Jeremiah. Another Sutherland got in front of the terrorist vehicle and opened fire.**

 **Villetta sat in her cockpit smirking cruelly.**

 **"Simple-minded Eleven."**

"Excuse me!?" Chiba raised her voice to Villetta sitting near her, but the Britannian woman didn't reply. She looked away, knowing she'd been in the wrong. Ohgi spoke up.

"It's in the past. Let's keep watching."

Kallen glared at the couple though, a dark feeling welling up in her.

"By the way, I never did ask, how did you two meet?"

Oghi and Villetta passed a furtive glance to each other, one that did not go unnoticed by those previously allied to the Black Knights.

"Well, uh," Ohgi attempted, poorly, rubbing at the back of his neck, "it's kind of a long story."

"And why exactly did you switch to our side, Villetta?" Kallen's eyes were narrowed and Tohdoh shot the former Deputy Commander a piercing look of distrust. Rakshata raised a suspicious brow.

The DVD kept playing, but by now hardly anyone was giving it their full attention. The air in the room had suddenly become thick, as if with the poison of hate itself, and Villetta answered cautiously in an attempt to assuage the others' doubts.

"We were both victims of Geass. That's why we-"

"That's not true."

From her spot with Jeremiah and Anya, Sayoko leveled an unflinching, unblinking look of barely restrained violence at the Britannian woman, their eyes meeting. They'd worked together for a time, throwing off the OSI's surveillance of Lelouch, but then Villetta tried to break out of their master's grip, making contact with Ohgi, something that was unacceptable. Not only that, while meeting in private she'd tried to kill him.

Maybe Ohgi wanted everyone else to forget about that sordid affair, but Sayoko wouldn't. Diethard had suspected dishonesty from him early on, and whatever personal benefits the Britannian hoped to reap by fighting with the rebels, his loyalties were undivided. The same could not be said of Ohgi. The Deputy Commander's meeting with Villetta was a double affront to everything the Black Knights were working toward, and it made Sayoko's blood boil. He was consorting in secret with a woman known to be untrustworthy, and she'd just betrayed Lelouch by abandoning her post. If she wasn't so sure it would destabilize the Order, Sayoko would have finished them both off rather than bringing Villetta in to Diethard and leaving Ohgi be.

And then the traitors made their betrayal official after the FLEIJA...

No. They hadn't gotten together because of Geass. Their association had started long before that and they were trying to cover it all up. Sayoko shook her head at the silver-haired beauty, slowly, deliberately, never breaking eye contact, silently informing her that she wasn't fooled. In fact, Sayoko was fairly certain neither Ohgi nor Villetta would be returning home alive. Even if no one else was willing to do it once the truth behind their relationship came out, whatever truth that turned out to be, the task of ending them would simply fall to her, and she wouldn't be nearly as forgiving.

 **Lloyd's face popped onto the screen without warning.**

 **"A-ha~?"**

 **Bartley blinked back.**

 **"What are you doing?"**

 **"Looking at a man who blundered. Am I right?" Tanks began to roll by in the background.**

"Hey, hey, that one turret is going right up his ass!" Tamaki broke the tension in a way only he could, receiving frustrated groans in reply. He frowned back. "What? I was just sayin'."

Xingke sighed.

"I think the poison gas is more important, Tamaki."

Lloyd didn't seem nearly as bothered, instead letting out a carefree giggle.

"That's quite a clever visual trick. I wonder if we'll see some more unintentionally fun camera angles as this goes on."

 **A new voice came over a panning shot of the Shinjuku Ghetto, giving commands to Honourary Britannian infantrymen. They dropped from transport copters, in full armour but without weapons, and ran into the ruined district.**

 **The scene shifted again to show Nagata, bleeding from Villetta's earlier barrage, just as his truck fell into a rut and stalled. He opened its cargo trailer, apparently to activate an installed tracking system so one of his friends, still not revealed by this point, could potentially find him.**

Zero reeled. He knew what was coming next. His short-lived reunion with Lelouch was about to happen and he wasn't looking forward to it. Not only that, almost everyone still thought the terrorists had stolen poison gas. Now that they were about to learn it was actually C.C. in that capsule...

As the two boys met again and the capsule opened, there was a gasp from the audience. Then the other shoe dropped.

"C.C.!" Kallen raged as the greenette appeared onscreen. "Where is that witch!? I need to talk to her RIGHT NOW!"

"Who's that?"

"I'm confused."

"So wait..." Gino frowned in bafflement. "It wasn't poison gas?"

"That doesn't make sense," Nina whispered to herself. The news had reported huge casualties due to terrorists releasing bio-weapons in the ghetto, but that wasn't actually the case? Then, the Area 11 media was lying?

Jeremiah raised his brow over his still-tissue right eye and his mechanical left. Things were starting to fall into place for him, and no doubt for Sayoko and Anya as well. Of everyone, they probably knew the most of what truly happened. After all, they were sheltering the witch and her demon. The next most knowledgable people would be Zero, then Kallen, Lloyd and Cécile, the two scientists having been fully committed to the Zero Requiem, enough so to learn of Geass and its restrictions.

 **Clovis' Royal Guard cornered Suzaku and Lelouch, and their new friend in C.C. Their leader demanded Lelouch be executed, but Suzaku wouldn't comply. He was shot for his disobedience.**

"How twisted can you get?" Chiba scoffed as Suzaku fell to the floor onscreen. "The kid won't shoot a Britannian, but he's more than willing to help oppress millions of Japanese!?"

Kallen rolled her eyes, not by coincidence letting them stop to rest upon Zero's black-caped form.

"And the hypocrisy begins..."

 **"Death to Britannia. Long live... Japan!"**

"Oh no," Ohgi gasped as he watched Nagata's final act, triggering a bomb in the truck's cab, killing himself instantly. "Nagata! No!"

Kallen felt like she was going to cry seeing her brother's and her own friend die, but no tears came. She was too hard, her time as a Black Knight strengthening her will and dulling her reaction to death. She looked to Tamaki and he was glancing away from the screen, trying to hide a faint watering of his eyes.

 **Clovis didn't take well to learning C.C. had escaped. Onboard his G1 Command Center he stood up from his throne and gave his declaration.**

 **"As Clovis, Third Prince of the Empire, I command you: Destroy Shinjuku Ghetto. Leave no one alive!"**

There was another gasp and Tohdoh growled to himself.

"That bastard."

Zero was probably the most shocked. In all the chaos he'd never put things together. He'd been told the civilian casualties were caused by poison gas, yet he knew there _was_ no poison gas. And he'd never questioned this. Why not? He felt like hitting himself. He was stupid. Stupid, stupid, STUPID!

"It's not that bad." At Cornelia's comment she instantly had the attention of everyone else in the room. She frowned and attemped to explain herself.

"Look, it's very simple. Clovis didn't go in guns blazing, he sent in unarmed troopers! Since they weren't carrying weapons there was no chance of one them accidentally killing a civilian. Secondly, they were Honourary Britannians so their presence would put the Elevens at ease compared to if he deployed full-Britannian soldiers. It seems pretty clear to me a massacre was his Plan B."

There was a pause as everyone took a moment to consider this. That certainly made sense. Not only that, he was one of the few provincial viceroys to field Honourary Britannians at all, let alone give them citizenship. Those around the room were still quite angry, but at least agreed they might've been judging the fruity prince a little too harshly.

 ** _"Supervisor Jeremiah."_ A report came through in the man's Sutherland. _"General Bartley requests you take command of-"_**

 **"Bartley and his staff officers. I haven't had this much fun on the front lines in ages!"**

Now it was Jeremiah's turn to have all eyes on him. Some were accusing, others questioning, but Lloyd's were amused.

"You know, Jerry," he laughed in his usual singsong voice, "if you'd just done as you were told you'd have been Lancelot's pilot instead of Kururugi. Such a shame. I'm actually quite curious how you two would compare as devicers."

That was certainly an odd what-if. Though he didn't say out loud, Zero wished it had happened that way instead. If Jeremiah had become the Lancelot pilot instead of him, who knew how different things would've turned out. Zero figured they'd probably be for the better.

 **Lelouch and C.C. were cornered by the Royal Guard again, and this time they didn't have a terrorist to blow himself up, giving them the chance to escape. Then the Guardsman leader fired his gun and something nobody expected happened.**

 **"He musn't die!"**

 **The bullet struck home, blowing a bloody crater through the center of the greenette's forehead, right in the middle of a red tattoo of a stylized "V."**

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Kallen couldn't hold in her fury, for some reason finding herself unable to accept C.C. wasn't involved in this whole, bizarre affair. "I met C.C., I talked with her, I fought with her! She couldn't just DIE!"

Tohdoh and Xingke glanced to each other and swept their eyes around the room. The general reaction was that of surprise at C.C.'s impromptu cranial evacuation, but there were some who didn't exhibit the same level of distress at her seeming demise. They knew something not everyone did and they weren't volunteering to explain how the witch could have survived, either.

Among those who showed the least concern was Jeremiah, Sayoko and Anya, Cornelia, Lloyd and Rakshata (though considering how zany those two scientists were, their reaction, or lack thereof, didn't mean all that much), and Zero, his costume covering up any expression perfectly.

A tacit agreement passed between the two soldiers. Not everyone in the room could be trusted.

 **Out of nowhere the dead girl's hand moved to grab Lelouch's.**

"AH!" Tamaki reeled in horror. "Zombie!"

 _ **"You don't want it to end here, do you?"**_

 _ **"What?"**_

 _ **The scene had changed and now was black and white. Lelouch began to fade and split into many as C.C.'s voice echoed, seemingly right into his very mind.**_

 _ **"You appear to have a reason for living."**_

 _ **"That girl. That's impossible."**_

 _ **"If I grant you power, could you go on? I propose a deal. In exchange for this power you must agree to make my one wish come true. Accept this contract and you accept its conditions: While living in the world of humans you will live unlike any other; a different providence, a different time, a different life. The Power of the King will condemn you to a life of solitude. Are you prepared for this?"**_

Rivalz and Gino, and several others too, were exchanging awkward glances, and after a moment Tamaki once again spoke up, stating what was on everyone's mind.

"This is trippy."

There was a flash of images, the one most people noticed being Jupiter, but there was another, accompanied by a voice, too quick for many in the audience to notice, but Cornelia, Villetta, Gino and Anya did. They could tell. It was Emperor Charles, flanked by people in bulky robes.

 _ **"A convergence with the Ragnarok Connection?" the king mused. "So the myth is beginning once again?"**_

What could that mean? Gino had no idea. Anya had too much idea, and she tried not to think about it. Cornelia meanwhile had to hold herself back as a wave of fury overtook her. She'd seen those men standing next to her father before; in China, in the underground facility run by the so-called "Geass Order." That they were with Emperor Charles could only mean he knew about Geass. No, he was directly involved in Geass! Could he have been trying to obtain that evil power for himself? There seemed no end to the conpiracy. As for Villetta, even knowing Charles had had Geass, she wasn't sure what he was talking about, or why Lelouch was having visions of him.

 _ **Lelouch narrowed his eyes and thrust out a hand.**_

 _ **"Yes! I hereby accept the terms of your contract!"**_

 **Gears collided into each other and reality was instantly restored, yet something was different. Lelouch rose to his feet, unafraid of death. He spoke confidently even with a dozen guns pointed at him**

 **"Say, how should a Britannian who detests his own country live his life?"**

 **"Are you some kind of radical?"**

 **"What's wrong? Why not shoot? Your opponent is just a schoolboy. Or have you finally realized? The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed!"**

 **The young prince's left eye swirled with a malevolent power and he gave his command.**

 _ **"I, Lelouch vi Britannia command you: Now, all of you, DIE."**_

Gino shook his head, as if to shake something loose or kickstart his brain.

"I'm not getting any of this. What?"

"It's his power," Cornelia spat. "So that's Geass!"

"The Absolute Power to command anyone to do anything." Kallen nodded her affirmation to the princess.

As the Royal Guard onscreen stumbled about and put their guns to their necks, Xingke covered Tianzi's eyes and Nunnally cringed, forcing herself to watch. Lelouch had been strong enough to endure this horror, so now she, as his sister, should be able to endure the same.

The question of how all these events were captured on film was almost entirely forgotten by this point, and the audience watched with grim fascination as Lelouch stood still, unblinking as his attackers killed themselves on his order, spattering his face with their blood.

 **For a moment Lelouch seemed disturbed by the fresh corpses at his feet, and suddenly his voice began to play, separate from his body, like a narrator speaking to the audience directly.**

 **'I was sick to death of a world that couldn't be changed. But even in my lies I refused to give up in despair. But now, this incredible power, it's mine.'**

 **He grinned wide and cruel as he came to a conclusion on what he should do.**

 **"Well then...!"**

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	3. Entropy 3: (R1,2) The White Knight

**Entropy 3: (R1;2) The White Knight Awakens**

 **The screen lingered for a moment on Lelouch's face, filled with bloodthirst and exultation, then went black.**

"So..." Rivalz looked to the others around him uncertainly. "Is that it? Is that the big truth we were supposed to-"

 **Piled upon the floor of the warehouse were a dozen bodies of slaughtered Elevens.**

"-oh, nevermind."

 **"I don't understand," Lelouch monologue to the "dead" girl on the ground before him, "what it is you wanted me to do. Why did you give me this bizarre power?"**

 **There was a rumble and Lelouch spun to come face to face with a Sutherland in the colours of the Purist Faction. Within its metal walls was Villetta, and she gawked at him, or more specifically, at the bodies of Clovis' Royal Guard.**

Tamaki snickered loudly, earning a consternated frown from the woman who was currently onscreen.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing!" he laughed back, louder still. "It's just, I can't believe that was your uniform! If I'da known women Britannians had to wear tiny miniskirts, hell, I would'a become an Honourary Citizen and joined up just like Kururugi did!"

The ladies in the room, all but Anya, instinctively scootched away. Instead of trying to escape Tamaki's lecherous gaze, the once emotionless girl let a mischievious smirk onto her face.

"Speaking of Suzaku, I had a cute uniform too, and his face would always get red when he looked at it."

With that said, the idea that Suzaku had been a pervert and had only joined Britannia to look at scantily clad female soldiers was planted in the audience's minds, and it took a tremendous effort on Zero's part to refrain from denying it. He got lucky though, as just before he broke down and made a comment that _maybe_ Suzaku was only concerned about his fellow knight getting cold, Villetta once again spoke up.

"That's a standard issue G-Suit, you simpleton, not a miniskirt. Does it look like I'm wearing a skirt?"

She pointed to the screen, but Tamaki interpretted her words differently and leaned over in his seat, turning his head to stare at her bottom half.

"Yes. It's very flowy. Nice catch, Ohgi."

"Eeah!?" Villetta jumped from her theatre chair, both hands covering herself as Tamaki continued to stare, an approving grin on his face. She walked to the back and sat herself down several rows behind him, out of sight. Ohgi glared at his friend then dutifully followed his wife to sit with her again.

 **"Answer me, or I'll...!"**

 **Villetta fired off a few warning shots from her Sutherland's assault rifle, the rush of air from the bullets ruffling Lelouch's hair but otherwise leaving him completely unphased.**

"Well, well," Gino marvelled. "So he faces down a knightmare on foot and doesn't even flinch. His balls? Solid brass."

Sitting right next to him, Nina flushed at the remark, but Gino clarified, not quite sure what her problem was.

"Well, I don't mean literally, obviously."

 **"I order you to come out." Lelouch's Geass flared. "** _ **At once**_ **."**

The watchers tensed at the sight of his power, but contrary to what they expected, nothing happened.

 **'I see. It only works with direct eye-contact.'**

 **Raising his hands in surrender and uttering a simple lie, Lelouch easily convinced the Villetta onscreen to get out of her knightmare, the one watching her former self getting duped having to hold back a snarl at what happened next.**

Cornelia slapped a palm across her brow and slowly shook her head, actually embarrassed for her late brother Clovis. Was this really the calibre of his best agents? She could excuse the Royal Guard getting themselves killed en masse by an unarmed schoolboy. After all, they didn't know he was about to receive an _eldritch_ and overall _unfair_ ability from a _dead girl_. It was a fairly safe assumption on their part that something like that was unlikely to happen. Villetta getting tricked and briefly turned into a mindslave though was entirely her fault and was humiliatingly stupid. Not only did she get out of her KMF in the middle of an ongoing battle, she also bothered to confront a suspicious person (surrounded by scores of bodies) rather than just shooting him. Maybe it was the _right_ thing to do, but "the right thing" rarely factored into Cornelia's decisions. Her typical response to most problems was to simply carpet bomb them until they were no longer a problem.

 **Again Lelouch's Geass flashed, and in an instant Villetta was subdued, rings of orange around her irises. She handed him her pistol and knightmare ignition key, then stood completely still.**

The scene may have been a distant memory to her, but seeing herself being manipulated so easily, knowing how it could have all ended right there if Lelouch had decided to shoot her, made Villetta's skin crawl. She felt violated.

Still sitting a few rows in front of her, Tamaki shook his head in awe.

"So that's Geass," he hummed. "It's really real, huh?"

Gino scratched his head.

"Uh, so it's like magic, then?"

Tamaki nodded.

"Yep. It makes you do stuff. Evil stuff!"

Kallen scowled at those words. She may not have been an expert on Geass, but she knew Lelouch. Or at least she thought she had. Only at the very end did she realize, the inner workings of Lelouch's mind would ever elude her. Even so...

"No, dummy. He could geass you to do good, not just evil."

"Do good with Geass!?" Cornelia was quite insulted by the concept, and she stood in a rage. "Are you on _his_ side? Have you been _tainted_!?"

"I'm just saying."

"Saying that you're a slave to the Demon!?"

"No, I'm saying you're paranoid!"

"YOU _ARE_ UNDER HIS SPELL!"

"COME OVER HERE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF, _BITCH_!"

Zero casually handed Nunnally the remote control and she pressed a button, pausing the show on a close-up of Villetta's bewildered but lucid face and her ample cleavage below. She took a deep breath and shouted.

"ENOUGH!"

The room went silent as the Britannian Empress glared upon her ill-tempered guests. The Gift of Truth was before them, showing them the hidden life of Lelouch vi Britannia, and yet all anyone wanted to do was talk and goof off and start fights. For Nunnally, this was rather a big deal, learning of what her brother did behind closed doors almost entirely for her sake, even giving his life for that goal, and her friends and family, former enemies and vague acquaintances were _not_ going to screw it up for her. She turned her vision back toward the screen and was about to press PLAY again when Gino ventured a query.

"So, this Geass thing... You guys already knew about it...?"

Chiba spat over her shoulder before answering, a disgusted "OI!" coming from Tamaki sitting right behind her.

"He used it on us - on all the Black Knights to control us!"

"He used Geass..." The blonde knight mulled the thought over, a sinking feeling in his gut. "On you...?"

If he wasn't uncomfortable before, now Gino was downight antsy. This whole situation had reeked of the supernatural from the very start, and now that it was confirmed he cast furtive glances to the former Black Knights in the room. They'd been subjected to a power that made people do "evil things," and even with Kallen saying otherwise, Gino still couldn't help but shiver at the question of how permanent the effects of Geass happened to be.

 **"So, are we having a bad day~?"**

"Oh look, it's that charming scientist fellow again!" Lloyd applauded. "He has such a cheery personality, doesn't he? I think he's my favourite character so far."

Sitting next to him, Cécile sighed and Milly giggled, the tension draining from them and the rest of the audience almost instantly. Whether he made the comment intentionally for that purpose or just because he wanted to was unclear, but if anyone were to know for sure what was rattling around in Lloyd Asplund's mind, it would be them. Cécile believed he was making an absent-minded observation. Milly was convinced he was more savvy than people gave him credit for.

 **"What's the latest on the situation?" Suzaku asked as C** **écile handed him his pocketwatch - his father Genbu's pocketwatch.**

 **Lloyd gave a quick "Ah!" of recognition then told him, then did something quite unexpected. He held out a knightmare ignition key.**

 **The setting abruptly shifted to right outside the medical van where a large humanoid form stood, draped with a black sheet. Even covered up though, everyone watching knew exactly what was coming.**

"Stupid Lancelot..." Tamaki grumbled to himself, earning mutters of agreement from around the room. "It's so unfair. I bet if _I_ had a super-fighting-robot frame instead of a mass-produced piece of crap _I_ could be invincible too."

Zero cocked his head at the comment, considering it for a moment. Truth be told, he had to agree. A devicer was only ever as skilled as their knightmare allowed them to be. Even if its pilot saw an attack coming, if the frame wasn't fast enough to react then it'd still get hit. Even Tamaki in a frame like the Lancelot would be more than a match against weaker KMFs.

Kaguya had a different interpretation of the Lancelot's debut.

"Poor Suzaku. If he never became the Lancelot pilot he never would've lost his mind. And he still would've been with us today."

"Ha!" Chiba scoffed at the girl's words. "Good riddance, I say!"

Cécile scowled, but Lloyd sitting next to her waggled a finger, reminding her to stay civil and more importantly to not break character. They weren't sure if Zero Requiem would be revealed over the course of the DVD showings, but until that happened, if that happened, they couldn't let on that Suzaku wasn't an entirely bad guy.

 **Far from the back lines where Suzaku was blissfully unaware, the massacre of Shinjuku's Eleven inhabitants continued unabated. As a man was shot down by an APC's turret, a slash harken erupted from a nearby pile of rubble, tearing into its hull. It was Kallen in her red Glasgow, and inside her cockpit tears stained her eyes.**

 **"Those damn Britannians!"**

Milly and Nina winced at what they saw. They glanced to each other from their seats in different rows of the theatre, and they shared a look of revulsion, almost disbelieving at what deeds were committed by their own people.

"I... I-I would never...!" Nina attempted through trembling lips. "Even if they were Elevens, they didn't... They didn't do anything!"

 **At Ashford, quite a jarring change of scene from the carnage of the Shinjuku Massacre, Shirley was getting on her swimsuit as a jingle came from her phone. It was Lelouch, calling from the inside of Villetta's knightmare, and just before ending the call he smiled.**

 **"By the way, tell my little sister that I'm going to be home late tonight, would you? Thanks."**

'Oh, Brother...' A tear threatened at the corner of Nunnally's eye as a wave of emotion overcame her. 'You were always thinking of me, but when it really mattered I couldn't do the same.'

 **As Kallen desperately evaded Jeremiah chasing after her, a voice came through on her comm.**

 _ **"The west entrance."**_

Kallen glared over at Jeremiah, sitting quietly with Sayoko and Anya.

"Hey, Orange-boy," she called to him rudely, though for some reason the taunt didn't upset him like it once did. "You used to be a racist prick. What changed?"

The noble cyborg merely shrugged.

"A lot changed."

Anya continued for him, bobbing her head in his direction.

"He met some people; learned some things. No biggie."

"Riiight..." Kallen didn't believe it was that simple, not a chance. But why would Anya be covering for him? How were they even related to each other in this grand web of lies that was slowly unravelling onscreen?

A broad smile formed on Rivalz's face and he cried out in delight, completely disrupting the Red Queen's thoughts.

"That's some funky harpsichord! This is so cool, our lives have a soundtrack!"

 **Jeremiah and another Pureblood chased after Kallen in their Sutherlands, easily catching up to her outdated Glasgow, but as she approached Shinjuku's west entrance she hopped onto a set of tracks and on top of an incoming train, anxious to put some space between herself and her pursuers. Lelouch came to the rescue, opening fire from a nearby building with his stolen Sutherland's slash harkens and then his rifle, destroying Jeremiah's partner and crippling his frame.**

 **"You son of a...!" the Margrave cursed in reply, raising his own weapon to return fire.**

 **Before he could though, Kallen turned around, seeing the tide changing in her favour, and she lunged her frame at the Britannian, forcing him to eject.**

"Wow," Milly gasped, thankful Kallen returned to the fray and saved Lelouch from Jeremiah's wrath. "You're pretty brave, Kallen. Much more than you how acted when you were at school!"

Kallen grinned wide, pleased that her days of pretending to be sick were over.

"Thanks, Madam President."

Disconcertingly, Milly shook her head in mild disappointment, earning a questioning look from the younger girl. She narrowed her eyes and threw on a tight smirk, then shrugged.

"If only I'd known, we could have done _so_ many _things_ together..."

"Uh..." Kallen didn't want to know. "Yeah. That's... That's too bad."

 **As Lelouch gave more orders to Ohgi and his crew, hope began to rise in them, and they followed his instructions to the letter.**

"What was a train of Sutherlands even doing there in the first place?" Milly slowly shook her head in disbelief. "That seems kinda convenient."

Cornelia huffed at the observation.

"Lelouch said it clearly, didn't he? Clovis couldn't bring in more units because it would reveal his operation to the public. He was obviously shipping fresh knightmares by train so he could reinforce his perimeter without making a scene."

"Oh, that makes sense. It seemed like a plot hole at first."

"A plot hole? This isn't some badly written sci-fi, you know. It's real life!"

Gino interjected with a short laugh.

"Well, real life's pretty epic, then!"

While the others joked amongst themselves at Cornelia's expense, Xingke watched the unfolding battle closely.

"He treated the battle as a free-flowing game of chess..." he muttered to himself, nodding along at the Black Prince's every move. "He had some skill at a board game and translated it to be useful in real combat. I see. Lelouch truly was a genius beyond any of us."

"Yep!" Rivalz unintentionally gave Tianzi a start as he chirped in agreement with the Chinese soldier. "He was a chessmaster, ol' Lelouch. Jeez, look at him go!"

The Chinese Empress furrowed her brow cutely, considering what she was seeing.

"Why wouldn't he just tell everyone he was a prince though? Wouldn't that be better than fighting?"

"Bugger if I know," the schoolboy replied, then snapped his jaw shut in embarrassment at his crude language in front of royalty. Luckily, Tianzi didn't appear to recognize the English slang and returned her attention to the show.

 **"My plan worked, didn't it? I can do it. I can! I can defeat Britannia!"**

"There he goes again," Gino sighed at Lelouch's declaration of triumph. "If he really had some evil eye power he could have just gone back to the Royal Family and used it to take over."

"He ended up doing that anyway though, right?" Ohgi attempted a clever answer.

"Right, but why take so long to do it?"

Rivalz entered the conversation.

"And why fight against his own nation in the meantime?"

"I know, right?" Gino shook his head, a flummoxed grin on his face. "Still, what a badass. Did you hear that evil laugh? That's Grade-A stuff right there - not forced or anything! Demon or not, I'm starting to like this guy."

Nunnally didn't address the questions of the rabble, a vague sense of the truth already, magically impressed upon her. A longing for her brother began to fill her mind, and regardless her qualms with him, she reached out a hand to Zero who took it and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

'Their understanding of you is so limited,' the Empress thought to herself dolefully. 'But that's how you wanted it, isn't it Lelouch?'

 **The worse things became for Clovis' troops the more the prince began to panic, and as his options dwindled he at last called upon Lloyd Asplund.**

"Oh, OH! Here comes my darling Lancelot!"

Tamaki's grumbling at the white knightmare only grew as it appeared onscreen and defeated him.

"Why's that always happen!? Why do I always gotta be the one who goes down first!?"

Instead of replying, Chiba simply laughed at him.

Jeremiah didn't even bother addressing him, instead focussing on what was shown onscreen. With a short "hm!" he sat back in his seat and smiled. He was impressed with Suzaku. It was the boy's first time in a knightmare and he was still at Ace level. If only things had been different, he would have made a fine Knight of One to a universally loved Emperor Lelouch.

 **The Lancelot barrelled into the fray, demolishing every opponent before it with ease.**

 **'Useless so-called terrorists.'**

While other Black Knights took offence to Lelouch's condescension, Rakshata gave a rolling, whinnying laugh.

"That's not an insult, it's a compliment! Clearly, he thought you were competant enough to handle a single enemy. A pity he overestimated so greatly."

Ohgi and Tamaki and Kallen, the only ones present who'd actually been in that fight against the Lancelot, began to protest, but they stopped as the knightmare engineer levelled her pipe at them. She pointed with it to Kallen.

"Not you though, of course. You always went above and beyond Lelouch's expectations. He always liked you the best, you know."

Kallen blushed at the thought and sat back down in a huff. She'd wanted to know, what did she mean to Lelouch? Coming from her and not Lelouch himself, Kallen couldn't be sure Rakshata was correct. Still, the words were dually comforting and saddening, giving Kallen hope that Lelouch really did feel something for her, yet also reminding her that he was gone and it wouldn't matter even if he did, not that she'd ever know for certain.

 **"For heaven's sake," Clovis said, almost disappointed Suzaku was winning the battle single-handed. "Now I'll owe my older brother a debt I don't mean to incur."**

"His older brother?" Sayoko wondered. "Which one?"

Cécile offered the Japanese woman a swift explanation.

"He means Schneizel el Britannia. The Prince was funding the Lancelot Project that Lloyd and I worked on."

"Speaking of which," Lloyd added unhelpfully. "Where is that snazzy schnitzel? Wasn't he invited to see this too?"

Nunnally shook her head, not taking her eyes from the screen.

"No. I didn't tell my brother about this meeting or the DVDs. In the interest of complete honesty, I don't trust him anymore."

Cornelia harumphed in agreement, remembering the mad prince's plan to rule the world. It certainly hadn't improved her opinion of him that he shot her in the legs. It was only through sheer luck she hadn't been crippled from the treachery just like Nunnally.

"Whoa, whoa," Gino frowned as Lelouch and Suzaku came knightmare to knightmare onscreen. "They didn't realize they were fighting each other!"

Zero held back a sad laugh at his friend's realization. No, they didn't know they were fighting against their best friend at that point. Perhaps if they had, the end result wouldn't have been such a mess. Maybe Lelouch and Suzaku would both still be alive, watching their shared history together as friends rather than being dead, replaced with the cold lack of identity that was Zero. After all, there was nothing those two couldn't do when they worked together.

 **Suzaku forced the Lancelot into a jump as a woman fell from a ruined building, plucking her from the air and lowering her to safety.**

The fact that Suzaku would completely halt his pursuit of Lelouch, the one coordinating the rebels and to his perspective at the time a villainous terrorist, was a point of particular interest to the audience.

Tohdoh shut his eyes and let out a gravelly sigh, the slighest twitch of a frown at the corner of his mouth.

"Suzaku had honour. Once. But knowing this can only bring my heart even greater sorrow. That he would throw away what little noble spirit he had for power makes him ever more deplorable in my eyes."

"And that's only with what little we actually know," Kallen scoffed in agreement. "How much do you want to bet we haven't heard half the crap he was up to?"

"This history of events will show us. We can only pray it leaves nothing out."

As they spoke their words of hate against the presumed deceased Suzaku, Cécile began to shake with the beginnings of a rage. They didn't know. They had no damn idea! Suzaku had only been a kid, so how could they expect him to make the right choices? He'd had offers of power whispered in his ear by Britannia, all in return for the simple act of bending the knee. What stupid teenager wouldn't take that deal, even if it meant selling their own dignity away?

"I remember that happening," she said a little louder than necessary, indicating the saving of the falling woman and trying to recoup some respect for Suzaku. "I was really proud of Suzaku for doing that."

Zero heard Cécile's declaration, and depite agreeing with the vitriol of the others, a bad habit of self-deprication he'd developed since seeing all his efforts lead to nothing but increased tyranny, he felt a small amount of warmth rise in his breast. With everyone in the world hating him, by design of the Zero Requiem, it was unexpectedly touching to hear a kind word, even if it wasn't directly meant for him. He couldn't forget. Suzaku was dead. There was only Zero.

"He shouldn't have bothered." Cornelia had her arms crossed and a sour look on her face, and as she received a dozen overlapping outbursts of disgust, she continued. "If Kururugi had just let that woman fall and gone after Lelouch, the Demon Emperor would never have existed. Euphemia would still be alive too. It would've been a small price to pay."

A glazed expression came over Nina's face, sitting next to the warrior woman.

"Princess..."

While others shouted in protest at the callousness of Cornelia's words, Kaguya shook her head.

"Maybe you're right, but if that were the case none of us would be sitting together right now. In the end, Lelouch the Demon brought... " She stopped in the middle of her sentence as the importance of her next words struck her. Kaguya's jaw dropped and her eyes bulged, the sheer magnitude of her realization physically affecting her. Could it be possible they were wrong about Lelouch's character after all? Could it be that...? "He brought the world together."

Tamaki only huffed, hypothetical scenarios not really appealing to his more _refined_ mental palate.

"I still think Kururugi was a goody two-shoes who didn't know justice from his ass. It might explain why he had his head up there so damn much."

As for Zero, shutting himself off from everyone's conversations he closed his eyes and attemped to retrieve his thoughts from the time featured onscreen. Back then, he truly believed the means were more important than the ends, that results gained through contemptible methods were worthless. Oh, how his views had changed! Recalling his outlook on the world from back then, he could only feel shame.

Saving that woman and her child may have been the only unequivocally honourable deed he'd ever done. After that, every action he took was grey with ambiguity, no matter how much he tried to rationalize it as good and just. He'd had plenty of time to consider things since taking up the mask, and his overall conclusion was that he'd lost himself to self-righteous arrogance. He used to think he was never wrong no matter what he did, but that was only because he never considered anything from anyone else's perspective.

To the Suzaku onscreen, Zero's past self, the right choice always seemed so incredibly clear, explicitly so, like a line from a textbook. Fighting was "wrong," regardless why it was done, so those who rebelled against Britannia, the suzerain overlord of Area 11, were automatically wrong for doing so and deserving of whatever punishment they received. Even if he understood the rebels and their plight, they were wrong to oppose the system that made them rebels in the first place. In theory, they could have achieved what they wanted by working through the system, nevermind the fact that "in theory" had no bearing on the way the world actually worked.

Suzaku had been blind to it before, so absorbed by his own stunted morality that he'd looked down upon Kallen and her friends for doing the only thing they could in a society that denied them the mere peace to live without fear. He was always right, that's what he must have believed somewhere deep in his subconcious, and therefore anyone who didn't conform to his views was wrong by default.

Such a mindset was the height of childish thinking, and seeing himself onscreen, not experiencing the events firsthand but witnessing them as an outsider, caused Zero to reflect on all that had transpired since that day he was given the Lancelot. Going over each individual event in his mind, events that no doubt would soon be shown to the entire audience around him, Zero descended deeper and deeper into regret.

 **The terrorists were surrounded and about to be killed by Britannian soldiers when Clovis called them off. At gunpoint was he forced to comply, ordering his men to stand down and withdraw, the one holding the weapon being none other than the smooth-voiced schoolboy, Lelouch Lamperouge.**

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	4. Entropy 4: (R1,3) The False Classmate

**Entropy 4: (R1;3) The False Classmate**

The screen went black once more, and in the brief moment before the next "episode," for there could be no other way to describe how the outherworldly account of history was divided into 20 minute chunks, there was a quick discussion amongst the audience. Talk was nothing new for them, as they'd been speaking over the show since it started, but now their chatter was centered upon a new topic.

"Hey, Zero," Rivalz called as polite as he could, "didn't you, uh-" he made a slicing motion over his neck, "-to Prince Clovis? Is that coming soon? Because I would've thought you'd have shown up by now."

Zero didn't want to answer. Or rather, he didn't know how to answer. It was true that most the people present were already aware he wasn't the real Zero, the first Zero, but he still felt uncomfortable discussing that fact. Would it be best if he took the credit for Clovis' assassination? No, that would stupid. It would doubtless only be a few minutes before Rivalz and the few others who didn't know Lelouch was Zero saw that to be a lie. Would it be best to just take off the mask and get it over with? They would all find out who was beneath it eventually, right?

"I feel there is something I-"

"Let's make predictions," Milly interrupted. She gave an air of playfulness, but the blonde's voice wavered ever so slightly, revealing the truth that despite her outward show of strength thus far, she was a little shook up at what she'd just seen. Lelouch had never mentioned that he was in Shinjuku that day, and that he could be involved with terrorists, even peripherally, was hard to believe, even when it was shown onscreen, clear as if it were happening right there and then. "I think Zero's going to show up and kill Clovis, then swear Lelouch to secret."

Rivalz shook his head.

"No way. I bet Clovis learns the error of his ways and escapes. Then when nobody can find him they lie and say he's dead."

"... What?" Kallen blinked at her blue-haired friend, not sure if he was joking. "You think Clovis wasn't assassinated?"

"Oh come on. Everyone knows Prince Clovis is Zero!"

To this declaration, Anya burst out in a full-bellied fit of laughter, enough to shake her tiny frame and cause her to fall over in her seat, landing backfirst onto Jeremiah's lap beside her.

"You - ahaha!- you can't...!" She kept laughing as she attemped to speak, and with a blush Jeremiah gently grabbed her shoulders and set her back upright. "There's no way you could believe that old conspiracy theory! Next you'll be saying Julius Kingsley was Lelouch all along!"

"Don't be silly. Lelouch was General Kingsley? That's _way_ more more far-fetched than what I'm talking about!"

As Anya continued to laugh, Gino and Villetta raised their brows in confusion. The girl's mirth was welcome, but was also quite oddly out of place.

"Say, Anya," Gino probed, "I think this is the first I've ever heard you laugh."

"What, really?" She flapped her hand at her knightly friend, a coy smile on her still giggling lips. "Are you telling me I have a bad sense of humour, Sir Weinberg?"

Realizing his blunder, the Knight of Three shook his head vehemently.

"No, no! I was just saying, you're in a really good mood."

Anya only shrugged, the last of her laughter subsiding.

"I sure am. You can thank the Knight of Orange for that."

"Orange?" Gino cocked his head at Jeremiah, tacitly wondering how Jeremiah could have helped her.

"Can you focus, please?" Cornelia grated through clenched teeth. For her, listening to such inane banter was beyond frustrating. All she wanted was to see why Lelouch killed her sister. After that, she wouldn't care how much people talked during the show.

 **The day was coming to an end and the sun began to sink over the horizon behind the bombed-out remains of the once prosperous Shinjuku.**

 _ **"Why the hell are we letting the Elevens go!?"**_ **Jeremiah's voice came through on someone's radio, accompanying the scene of scores of Japanese being escorted away from the ghetto.** _ **"What about the poison gas they've stolen?"**_

 _ **"But it's by order of Prince Clovis!"**_

 **While the Margrave argued with whoever was on the other comm, inside Clovis' G-1 Lelouch held his pistol, previously Villetta's, firmly in his older brother's direction. The Prissy Prince was hesitant to make a move while staring down the barrel of a gun, but he greeted the younger royal all the same, mostly sure that their family ties would stay Lelouch's hand from killing him. Why he would want to do that in the first place, Clovis had no idea, but he was certainly tactful enough not to ask such a dangerous question.**

 **"What a blessing to have you back!" Clovis may have meant those words, but the audience couldn't tell from the way his voice shook with apprehension. "We should depart for the Homeland immediately."**

 **Lelouch's aim didn't falter.**

 **"So you can use me as a tool of diplomacy? It seems you've forgotten why we were used as tools in the first place."**

"Princess," Guilford whispered to Cornelia. "What does that mean?"

"It's..." The Witch of Britannia couldn't say it. It was just too terrible. To even mention what happened to her idol...

 **"That's right," Lelouch continued venomously. "It was because my mother was killed."**

 **There was a blur, indicating a flashback, much to the shared surprise of the people watching. How far back did this footage go? Who could say? Perhaps it would even go back to the Middle Ages.**

"Holy shit."

The response came from most the audience in unison as the assassination of Marianne Lamperouge vi Britannia was depicted. Once again Xingke covered Tianzi's eyes while Jeremiah exploded into a fit of tears.

Villetta looked over to her former friend. He'd spoken so highly of his mistress in the past and had similar breakdowns almost every time he did so, and her heart really did go out to him. The poor guy. Luckily he had Sayoko and Anya, the two women holding him from either side as he sobbed. While Sayoko bore a comforting expression and kept her attention on her boyfriend, Anya however held her gaze forward, strangely unsurprised by what she saw and not sad in the slightest. Instead she scowled at the bloodied corpse of the woman onscreen, hatred evident across her features.

What could that mean? The most obvious explanation would be that Anya was angry at the ones who killed Marianne, but that didn't seem to be the case. Her eyes were too hard, too focussed, like she was directing her ire toward a known enemy rather than an anonymous group of assassins. What was it that she knew that everyone else didn't?

At a slight gasp from the other direction, Villetta checked Cornelia's disposition. The Princess was stone cold, though a tear dripped down her cheek. Clearly she had some connection to Marianne as well. Whether it was simply familial or more professional was unclear though, and Villetta filed the thought away for later.

Nunnally stayed strong, gripping Zero's hand so hard it dug into the skin below the fabric of his glove. She couldn't cry. The Britannian Empress couldn't show weakness. Her face twisted at the horrible sight though, her gaze lingering on herself, legs shot through and body fully trapped beneath her mother's limp form. Cornelia glanced her way, eyes watery, and Nunnally nodded back gravely, acknowledging her sister's concern.

"Nunna," Kallen started carefully, her face aghast compared to the outright sorrow on others around the room. "Is that...?"

"Yes. That's my mother. And that's me under her." Nunnally felt a sudden twinge of resent as she felt the eyes of more than 20 people lock onto her. How could they? How could they give her such sympathy and yet not offer the same to her brother? Was it because she'd come out of the attack blind and crippled? At least she was still whole on the inside. Lelouch never recovered.

"Hm!" Lloyd began to think out loud. "Did you notice the lighting change? When they were shooting the lights were _off_ , but then it cut to the blood dripping and all the lights were _on_ , like the two clips didn't happen at the same time."

"Lloyd, shut up!" Cécile gave the man a thwack on the head for his insensitivity. "Why don't you just keep your opinions to yourself until this episode is over?"

"But something doesn't add up!"

"LLOYD!"

 **"Even though you made it look like the work of terrorists... I'm no fool! You people killed my mother!"**

 **Returning to the then-present, Lelouch growled at his brother, his temper officially lost. Clovis could sense the younger prince growing unpredictable, and with a gun still pointed at him he wasn't going to just sit by and hope things blew over.**

 **"It wasn't me! I swear to you it wasn't!"**

 **"** _ **Then tell me everything you know!**_ **The truth cannot be hidden from me any longer." The Black Prince's left eye glowed merciless red, and the symbol of a bird flew from it, straight into Clovis'. "By whose hand was she slain!?"**

"Perhaps this 'Geass' isn't entirely magical after all," Rakshata mumbled to herself. "It clearly changes a person's neural network, like rewiring it."

"Rivetting stuff," Chiba replied with a roll of the eye. "Does it really matter?"

"Why, yes! If we had proper samples we could analyze how Geass affected a person's brain and even develop a sort of 'Anti-Geass.' It would be-"

Cécile cut in again.

"You shut up too!"

 **As Clovis' eyes glazed over and became ringed with orange, he relaxed in his throne.**

 **"My brother, Second Prince Schneizel, and Second Princess Cornelia... They can tell you."**

"That's bullshit, Clovis!" Cornelia shouted at the screen as all eyes fell upon her. If she had some popcorn, she probably would have thrown it. "I don't know what happened! She sent me away that night!"

"My mother..." Nunnally tried to piece the clues presented together with her foggy knowledge of the truth Lelouch had uncovered. She still didn't have enough information to make sense of things. A platform atop the abyss. A temple overlooking an eternal dawn. Jupiter. Jupiter. Jupiter. "She sent you away? Why?"

"If you remember, I was the captain of her guard. But like I said, Lady Marianne ordered me to withdraw her security detail the very night she was killed. To this day it makes no sense!"

Xingke and Tohdoh exchanged a look, instantly knowing they were thinking the same thing. Lelouch's motives for becoming Zero had seemed simple enough once he was finally unmasked: He was a monster who didn't care about people or nations, but only wanted to win for winning's own sake. Becoming the Demon Emperor was a slight departure from that objective, but it was hardly out of character as far as they could tell at the time. But now that they knew of the mystery of Marianne's death... Maybe Lelouch had more goals than just watching the world burn.

 **Lelouch blinked his power away and Clovis returned to normal. He levelled his pistol.**

"He wouldn't...!" gasped Milly, and her mouth tightened into a malformed look of alarm.

Rivalz was on the edge of his seat.

"Clovis gets away. He's Zero, after all. Right Zero? I mean... Right!?"

 **"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."**

 **Lelouch pulled the trigger.**

There was silence around the room. Lelouch had actually gone through with it. He'd killed his brother in cold blood. What could be said to that? Tianzi raised a hand and squeaked.

"Mister Zero? Everyone said that you killed Clovis la Britannia, not Lelouch." She knew the first Zero had been Lelouch all along, but after being told, nobody had bothered to elaborate on the details. They didn't have the heart to explain how the masked hero could also be a tyrannical madman playing with their lives.

"That's right!" Gino agreed, a betrayed look on his face. "You took credit for the killing. I thought you had more class!"

The few who didn't know that this Zero was merely a replacement to the first stared at him, a range of anger and confusion reflected on his mirrored helm. They sought answers - answers Zero wasn't ready to give just yet - and even those who knew he wasn't the original man behind the mask began to join in, apparently deciding now was a good time to find out.

Thankfully, Xingke intervened before any questions could be hurled.

"There was clearly more going on behind the scenes than anyone could have anticipated. Geass is proof of that. Even so, we needn't bother forcing Zero to answer our questions." He pointed to the screen, paused by Nunnally on an image of birds flying over Ashford. "This record of events is more candid than he, or I, or anyone here could ever be. I recommend we save our concerns for later. I'm sure all will be revealed in time."

There was a muttering of assent and Zero relaxed. He hadn't realized until Xingke finished his speech, but he'd been tensing his every muscle, preparing to either fight or flee, his command to live forewarning him of the potential danger of the mob.

"I agree," Tohdoh said firmly. "It's already been shown that we lack the full story. Asking each other at this point would likely only lead to more questions."

Jeremiah nodded.

"Very well then. Let us continue."

Nunnally gripped the remote in her hand and pressed the play button. She furrowed her brow.

"For better or worse."

 **"Wake up, Lelouch! I know you were sleeping, your hand stopped moving!"**

 **Lelouch was at Ashford, presumably the next day, and in the Student Council room with him was Nina, Shirley, Rivalz, and the girl smacking him with a roll of papers, waking him from a pleasant nap, Milly Ashford herself. They discussed the budget for the school's clubs, as if the battle in Shinjuku hadn't happened at all, and then somehow the topic took a radical turn.**

 **Milly gave Shirley a sultry look.**

 **"You're a 10. From what I've seen in the girls' bathroom, anyway."**

In her seat in the present, Milly laughed at the image presented before her - of better days and kinder futures, when their little club was all in one piece and wanted for nothing. She smiled, remembering that day as a tear rolled down her face. Those days had not lasted long. Not nearly long enough. She took a quick survey of the theatre and was met by equally sullen expressions from the other former and current Ashford students.

"Hey," Tamaki began as politely as he could, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, "how old were you two back then?"

Milly blinked in bemusement.

"I was 18. Shirley was 17."

"Oh! Oh, oh god..." He looked away from the screen in horror and drew his legs together tight. "Is it still wrong to look at jailbait if they're legal now?"

"Uhh..."

"I knew it! You can't trick me with your sexy, underage lesbian routine. I ain't goin' down that road. Hells no! Tell me when it's safe to keep watching."

Ohgi sighed in exasperation with his friend. At least the guy was trying not to be a perv. For the moment. Not many others seemed to share such an opinion as they groaned in disgust, and the Japanese Prime Minister hastily attempted to change the subject.

"That girl, where is she?" He pointed to Shirley onscreen. "It seems everyone who knew Lelouch is here, but she isn't."

Ohgi was met without reply. A silent question floated in the air between the Ashford students, of who should answer and how, but before they could, Kaguya whispered her guess, seeing the looks on their faces.

"She's dead, isn't she?"

"Unfortunately so," Nunnally supplied, holding her emotions in check as best she could. "Shirley was a good friend and is dearly missed."

 **Coming from their meeting, the younger Student Council members entered their homeroom to find most their class huddled around a laptop. Displayed upon it was a news report of Shinjuku, and Lelouch recollected how that conflict ended. He put a hand to his mouth.**

"Ha! The little brat," Chiba scoffed. "Just like Kururugi, he had a conscience once, too. A pity for everyone he didn't just die that day."

Gino knit his brows together, a thought coming to his mind.

"How can you say that? If it weren't for him taking command, Kallen and her friends would all be dead too."

Kallen cocked her head in astonishment at the young knight's words, honestly impressed at his consideration. Tamaki was still looking away, trying not to ogle any schoolgirls onscreen. Ohgi frowned in indecision, unsure if he should agree with his Japanese comrade in Chiba, or his former Britannian enemy in Gino. If perchance Lelouch had died in Shinjuku, he may not have lived and the Black Knights would never have been formed, but the Demon Emperor would not have risen either. If it mean stopping that madness, Ohgi wondered if it would have been worth giving his life.

 **"What's up, buddy?" Rivalz asked as Lelouch returned from the bathroom, sitting down and laying his piercing gaze upon a girl with fiery hair. "See something you like? You've got a thing for her, don'cha'?"**

Rakshata whinnied another laugh.

"Teenage romance is boring - too much hesitation, too little action."

Kallen's face grew as red as her hair, and from the other aisle of theatre seats Gino frowned like a wounded puppy.

"So, that's why you won't go out with me?"

"No, no! It's nothing like that!" Kallen's protest was met with inquisitorial stares, both Black Knight and Britannian watching her carefully for any sign of Lelouch's influence. "Just watch! Nothing happens!"

Not yet, at least.

 **At lunchtime, little to Kallen's knowledge, Lelouch stood close by her, observing her carefully as she ate outside with some friends. A bee flew by the picnic, scaring the other girls away, but not the undercover rebel, and once she thought herself away from prying eyes she chopped the bug in half with her bare hand.**

"Holy crap!" Rivalz took a double take, shifting his view from the Kallen onscreen to the one in the other aisle, gripped by bowel-clenching terror. "Kallen, I'm sorry for calling you sheltered. Please don't karate chop me in half!"

Lloyd spat his tongue and waved a dismissive hand.

"Nonsense. A karate chop would break your bones then tear your skin, not cut clean through. Besides, with her lack of mass she'd have to generate considerable force to do even that much. It's more likely she used her fingernail than the blunt of her hand. Isn't that right, Miss Kallen?"

Kallen squinted at the scientist, not entirely sure if she should be offended or not.

"'Lack of mass.' So you're _not_ calling me fat, right?"

 **Before any further discussion could be had, Lelouch walked onscreen, a serious look on his face. His Geass flared.**

 _ **"I want answers."**_

 **Not a minute later, after only a few quick questions, Kallen blinked back into consciousness and Lelouch turned to leave. He stopped though, as an afterthought activating his Geass and commanding:**

 _ **"Don't tell anyone about Shinjuku."**_

 **"What do you mean about Shinjuku?" Rather than falling under his spell once more, Kallen remained lucid, and worse, her suspicions were raised. "Why would you say that?"**

This particular bit stirred the audience, and they wondered to themselves what it meant. Was Kallen immune to Geass? Not likely. She was affected the first time it was used on her. Could that mean instead...?

"A limit," Rakshata announced. "Geass has limitations - perfectly logical and scientifically observable." She descended into a spell of contemplating for a moment. "He used it on Villetta, then that soldier, then Clovis, so it can work on more than one person, but it didn't work the second time on Kallen. Quite a conundrum. The simplest solution though would be to assume it can only be used once per person - assuming also no anomalies with mental resistance exist."

"But if that's the case," Kaguya considered with a sinking feeling in her stomach, "Lelouch used up his power on her, so he couldn't have been controlling Kallen after that day. And that would mean..."

Tohdoh and Xingke exchanged another look, passing information between each other without need for words. If it was true that Kallen wasn't under Lelouch's control at any point, then her devotion to him, to Zero, had been real. And if that willingness to fight and die for him had been real from her, how could they be sure their loyalty wasn't legitimate as well?

Inwardly, Kallen was beaming. So, it was true! Her will was her own, just as Lelouch said. After the Black Rebellion C.C. explained Geass to her, though, as she realized now, leaving out key details like the power's limitations, and she'd been left wondering for a whole year if she'd fallen under its influence. Now she knew, there could be no further doubt. She followed her heart and placed her trust in Lelouch not because she'd been forced to, but because she'd seen the good within him and his noble spirit. She chose Zero. She chose Lelouch.

 **In a secret lab, Bartley addressed his team of researchers.**

 **"As you know full well, the project was a complete failure, therefore this research division is being gutted."**

"So," Cornelia hissed to herself, "Bartley really wasn't allied to V.V. Yet still, the stain of Geass is upon his hands."

 **"I've set up a place in Narita for you."**

"Narita?" Guilford muttered. "Where the JLF was hiding?"

The Ashford students, including Gino and Anya who'd known Shirley for a time, looked to each other in confusion. They were thinking the same thing. Zero kept his mask forward.

"But that's where Shirley's dad..." Rivalz couldn't finish the sentence.

Sayoko took Jeremiah's hand in hers and closed her eyes in contentment, leaning her head against his shoulder. No matter what else they may have done, Bartley and Code R saved her Orange-kun's life. The cyborg had told her as much, and for that was she in their debt. If not for them, she never would have met the man who shared her loyalty to Lelouch.

 **Pictures of C.C. were scattered around the lab. In one of them she reclined in a metal chair with a brain-scanner on her head, and in another, a girl looking much like her ran from a trench, an early tank in the background. As the scene progressed, showing these candid photos, Bartley continued, his voice trembling with fear.**

 **"If His Majesty learns this experiment's gone on without his knowledge, I-I...!"**

"Aliens." At the declaration, everyone turned to Rivalz. Nina stared at him like he'd just said Carbon atoms had one proton each, the very height of outlandish statements considering they have six.

"Rivalz, what are you talking about?"

"That green-haired girl is an alien. Geass comes from another planet." The dorky boy was dead serious.

"How do you figure that?"

"Think about it! Remember when Lelouch got Geass? Jupiter. 'nuff said."

Nina shook her head in disbelief at her friend. First he was saying Clovis was Zero, now he was saying C.C. was an alien. At no point in knowing him had she ever realized Rivalz was such a conspiracy nut.

"What about that picture there? Of the tank and the biplanes? She couldn't possibly have been around a hundred years ago."

"Aliens live longer than humans, obviously."

Kallen decided against her better judgement to enter the conversation.

"But she was shot in the head in that first episode. I met her after that and she was still alive. How does being an alien explain that?"

Nina put a hand to her chin.

"Maybe that girl in the picture was a real person who died in the Great War, and the one everyone knows is a clone?"

Rivalz reeled at the thought.

"An alien AND a clone?! How many do you think there are of her? Do you think we could handle an attack from the clones if they tried to invade the Earth?!"

As much as he'd revealed to her about C.C. and Geass, Villetta had to admit, the Emperor wasn't exactly forthcoming with the specifics of who the witch was or where her powers came from. Although he was probably overthinking things, for all Villetta knew, Rivalz could have been right and C.C. was an alien. Or a clone. Or both. It would certainly explain why Clovis was willing to sacrifice an entire ghetto of people to keep her existance secret.

While everyone else debated, Anya, Jeremiah, and Sayoko, knowing far more of the truth than them, shared a laugh at their expense. Tamaki however steered the talk in a different direction.

"If C.C. is still alive, then why isn't she here?" He spoke to no one in particular at first, but then addressed Nunnally. "Did you just not invite her like you didn't invite Schneizel?"

Nunnally shook her head.

"I wanted Miss C.C. to be here, but I have no idea where she is right now, so I couldn't send the invitation."

Jeremiah's group looked to each other, deciding if it was alright to give some details away before they came up in the show.

"C.C. lives with us down on the farm," the cyborg explained as if it were no big deal. He ignored the entirely expected questions that erupted from the others though, and simply continued. "Before we all left to come here, Sayoko asked if she wanted to come along. She said, uh, what did she say?"

Sayoko tensed her face as she attempted to recall C.C.'s exact words, then completed Jeremiah's thought.

"She said, and I quote, 'The less I have to associate with those stupid, silly people, the better.'"

Those who'd met C.C., even if it was only once, nodded in understanding. Tamaki scowled instead, remembering how she would always treat him and taking personal offense to her words.

"Sounds like something she'd say."

 **That night Lelouch and Nunnally ate dinner together, and to the audience's mild surprise, the entire scene was an incongruous blend of heartwarming and heartwrenching.**

 **"Hey," the blind girl said, calling Lelouch's attention. She smiled, so incredibly soft and appreciative, and held out a pink origami crane. "They say if you fold a thousand of these cranes your one wish will come true. So if there's anything at all that you've been wishing for..."**

 **"No, not really." Lelouch smiled back as he replied, hiding an undertone of worry from his voice. The screen did not show it, but he was always worried. Lelouch lived in constant fear, fear that one day he and his wonderful sister would be found and forced back into the monarchy, and from there, be separated or used, or killed just as their mother was. "Do you wish for anything?"**

'Oh, Lelouch,' Nunnally thought to herself sadly, 'why couldn't I see? You were so stressed, but you never showed it. Why? To reassure me? I would have been happy no matter where we were, so long as we were together!'

 **"Hm," she began her reply. "I wish the world was a gentler place."**

Tohdoh looked to Xingke.

"Another one?" He referred to Lelouch's motivations for destroying the world. Xingke nodded.

"I'm certain of it."

 **Lelouch smiled again, more genuine this time, and his thoughts echoed as a monologue.**

 **'The truth is, there are very few paths our future can take. The Ashford family is sheltering us for now, but how long can that last?'**

Rivalz raised a brow at Milly.

"Is that true?"

"Maybe?" The blonde wasn't honestly sure. To her recollection there'd never been any kind of arrangement like that with Lelouch. Or Nunnally for that matter. The reason she and her grandfather let Lelouch and Rolo stay in the clubhouse was for entirely different reasons than hiding a royal prince and princess.

 **Nunnally held out her finger and Lelouch took it with his. She'd learned a new song, a Japanese Promise.**

 **"Cross my heart, hope to die, eat a thousand needles if I lie. Pinkie promise song!"**

 **"Well, that's scary!" Lelouch replied. "I may have to eat a thousand needles some day!"**

 **"That's right. So I better not catch you telling lies, okay?"**

 **Lelouch didn't hesitate to respond, his answer coming automatically.**

 **"Don't you worry, I'll never lie, I swear." That said, he lowered his gaze and narrowed his eyes, adding a caveat in his mind in a sinister tone. 'Not to you, anyway.'**

Zero shook his head. He knew those words. He may not have said them specifically, but when Nunnally was the viceroy of Area 11, he'd most definitely lived by them. Hearing them from Lelouch, he didn't know what to think. That they were more similar than either of them first realized? Perhaps. Or perhaps Suzaku was merely following the Black Prince's example, proving, even if he didn't admit it at the time, that his methods of changing Britannia from the bottom up weren't as effective as he claimed.

 **Another day passed and Lelouch used his Geass again, confirming it could only be used once per person. He was unaware though, when he went to class and throughout the rest of the school hours, Kallen watched him carefully, becoming more and more certain that he was the one to save her and her friends in Shinjuku.**

"Ooooh!" Gino cried in delight, pointing his finger at the screen. "You see that? Do you see that? This is sexy."

Kallen went red.

"Excuse me?"

"The espionage! He knows that you were in Shinjuku, but you can tell that he was there too! But he can also tell that you're suspicious of him. It's like a game of cat and mouse! I love it! I wish the Knights of the Round did more of that secret agent stuff."

 **Before long, Lelouch and Kallen stood together in the clubhouse ballroom with nothing but themselves and their secrets.**

 **"Here it is!" Or so they thought. "I found it! Look! This is it, right?"**

 **Shirley was in the ballroom as well, and Nina too apparently, and Rivalz and Milly and Nunnally.**

Rivalz wanted to say he remembered that event, when they all inducted Kallen into the Student Council, but he wasn't so sure anymore. The only difference between his memory and what was being shown was instead of Nunnally, it'd been a sandy-haired boy. But other than Milly, everyone remembered the Empress going to Ashford and not Rolo, so he decided not to say anything. Hopefully everything would make sense soon.

 **Before the celebration for adding a new member to the club could begin, Rivalz pulled out a bottle of champagne, and in a suitably humourous fashion, it was swiftly spilled all over Kallen's head.**

"WHAT THE HELL!?" the redhead almost screamed. Onscreen was herself, naked in the shower. In the present she was clothed, but she wrapped her arms around herself to hide her body all the same.

"Nope." Tamaki shook his head and averted his eyes again. If it had been anyone else, he probably would have stared, quite happily too, but the fact was that the girl onscreen was not only his friend's sister, on its own enough to be unnerving, but was also not over the age of 18 by that point.

Gross? Yes, that he was. But a pedo'? No. That, Tamaki most certainly was not. Almost everyone else had the decency to look away as well, the exceptions being Lloyd, who burst out laughing, and Nina. Kaguya wasn't above sneaking a peek either, and she frowned, placing her hands against her chest and squeezing, feeling suddenly rather inadequate compared to Kallen onscreen.

 **Lelouch walked into the bathroom and delivered a fresh change of clothes. Kallen reached a hand from behind the shower curtain.**

 **"Can you hand me that pouch over there?"**

 **"Sure." He replied quickly and did as was asked, but as soon as his hand came into reach Kallen grabbed it.**

Though his hands covered his face to keep him from seeing Kallen's state of undress, Gino peaked through his fingers and grinned.

"A hidden knife. What'd I say - secret agent stuff! Sexy!"

Sitting right next to him, Nina nodded slowly, a small trickle of blood dripping from her nose.

"Agreed. But for other reasons." She didn't say the rest: 'Two _big_ reasons.'

 **The phone rang and Lelouch answered. He handed it to Kallen. It was the voice from Shinjuku, the one that had directed the terrorists in battle.**

 _ **"Glad you're still alive, Q1. 1600 hours, the day after tomorrow. The observation deck at Tokyo Tower. Come alone."**_

 **The voice hung up after that and Lelouch took his leave as well, parting with a final, ambiguous statement.**

 **"I won't tell anyone."**

Kallen raised a red brow at those words. She hadn't thought anything of them at the time, but now she wondered. Did he mean that he wouldn't tell anyone he saw her naked? Or did he covertly say that he wouldn't expose her secret life as a terrorist? Considering it was Lelouch, she couldn't be sure.

"Ah," Sayoko noted idly once the scene switched to show her, orange rings around her irises. "It would seem that Lelouch used his Geass on me to trick you, Miss Kallen. And that would mean that I became immune to his power as well."

The ninja-maid smiled and narrowed her eyes. Nobody could accuse her of being manipulated now. She wondered, how much longer would it be before those who hated her liege saw how wrong they were? Would it be after a year's worth of footage, once the Black Rebellion was already lost and over? Or would it be even later, at the very end? What a curious little game she'd stumbled upon.

 **Once Kallen was out of the shower, she and Lelouch walked together back to the Student Council room, their previous hostilities completely set aside.**

 **"The Council doesn't require much actual work, I guess," Lelouch explained. "Beyond occasional paperwork, we'll sometimes plan school events."**

 **"So, you mean, like, the Culture Festival?"**

 **If only it were that simple.**

 **"Yep," he continued. "Like that, along with the Crossdressers' Ball, the Absolute Silence Party, and Swimsuit Day."**

Cornelia, Guilford, and Ohgi all turned to stare at Milly as if she were insane, and Zero and Villetta shivered, having first-hand witnessed the pure madness that the blonde was capable of. Unlike them however, Tianzi and Kaguya cheered.

"Those sound like fun!"

Lloyd put his fingertips to his chin and smiled at his ex-betrothed next to him.

"You're devious, you know that, Milly, darling?"

She giggled back and waved a hand.

"Oh, behave, you!"

 **"Lelouch, it's awful!" Nunnally's voice interrupted the two teens' conversation.**

 **"What is?"**

 **The Student Council was watching a TV, set to the news, and Milly turned back to face the new arrivals.**

 **"Prince Clovis has been found dead."**

 **Rivalz nodded in agreement.**

 **"They're saying he was killed."**

 **They watched together as Jeremiah made a speech, then a new clip was shown.**

 _ **"According to this report,"**_ **the woman onscreen detailed,** _ **"the suspect is an Honourary Britannian, Private Suzaku Kururugi, a former Eleven and Honourary Britannian. I repeat: Suzaku Kururugi arrested for murder."**_

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	5. Entropy 5: (R1,4) His Name is Zero

**Entropy 5: (R1;4) His Name is Zero**

 **Following the news report the screen went black, indicating the episode was at an end.**

"Okay..." Gino huffed and crossed his arms, taking a quick look at a Zero. "So, are you actually going to show up in this next episode? Or did Lelouch rescue Suzaku and you weren't even involved?"

"Uh," Zero began, "I did rescue Suzaku, or, that is to say, I, Zero, did, but I'm not actually the same-"

Kallen interrupted him.

"I sure hope so. If this drags on we might not even meet the Black Knights until Episode 8!"

"My friends..." Zero tried again. "I must tell you the truth! I'm not the same Zero that you all know. The one to first take up the mask was-"

"How many episodes actually are there?" Nunnally had already paused the DVD as Milly entered the conversation. The blonde looked to Lloyd beside her and he shrugged.

"I saw about 25 when I put the disk in."

"What, that many?"

Gino raised a hand, drawing attention for his question.

"When do I show up?"

Anya groaned and pulled out her phone.

"Ugh, we could be here all day!

"Oh, c'mon!" Zero looked between the set of seats on each side of the main aisle. "I'm trying to tell you all something important!"

Cornelia huffed.

"I don't care about any of this. Just skip to the part with Euphy. I need to know the truth!"

Rivalz shook his head and raised his voice.

"No way! I want to go straight to the end! Why did my best friend take over the world and why did he have to die!?"

"What the HELL!?" Anya spat over the growing argument. "My phone doesn't get reception here!?"

"Hey, don't leave me in suspense, I wanna know when I show up. The Knight of Three's important enough to be appearing soon, right?"

Kallen had stood up in the chaos and gone to the DVD player to check something, and she reeled in horror at what she found.

"This says we still have, like, 10 hours left on here!"

"How much is on the second disk?"

The audience had descended into a roar of conversation and argument, and Xingke began to rub his temples.

"This is madness..."

Surprisingly, the person to reply was Nina.

"No. This is entropy."

"E-e-n-turo-pi?" Tianzi sounded out the strange word, trying to figure out its meaning.

"The gradual building of chaos in a closed system," Nina explained, simplifying the concept down as best she could, though still feeling the phrasing was inaccurate. "This theatre is the closed system, and the longer we're in it the more chaos we'll generate."

Jeremiah leaned forward to get closer to the girl a row ahead of him.

"And what do you think the final result of that chaos would be?"

She adjusted her glasses, nervous at the cyborg's glare, and answered quietly, simply.

"One hundred percent entropy would result in-"

"BLEhCH!" Xingke, thankfully sitting in the first row, vomitted a glob of blood onto the carpet in front of him, finally quietting the others down. He received a dozen stares at once, quite unwelcome, and wiped his mouth. "Everything's alright. I'm fine. But can we just get on with this, please?"

Without waiting for confirmation Nunnally tapped the play button on the remote, feeling slightly edgy herself. The Chinese soldier meanwhile grabbed a cloth from his pocket and busied himself cleaning up his mess.

 **"Do you know anything about this weapon, Suzaku Kururugi?" Jeremiah questioned, sitting across from Suzaku at a table, presumably in an interrogation room. "It was the one used to rob Prince Clovis of his life."**

 **Suzaku denied it, of course, and was rewarded for his truth by having his chair kicked out from underneath him.**

Sayoko elbowed Jeremiah beside her slightly, and a series of glares were cast upon him from the others in the room. He merely shrugged.

"Yes, yes, I was wrong to do that. Why don't you all yell at me now and get it out of your systems for later?"

Cécile was about to start when Kallen gave a derisive laugh.

"Naw, don't worry about it." She glanced to Zero, just long enough for him to know she was looking at him. "I like seeing Suzaku roughed up. I hate that guy - always will. He deserved it."

"Deserved it?" Cécile questioned angrily. "Suzaku didn't do anything wrong!"

Zero began to answer.

"In all truth, I'm afraid Kururugi wasn't entirely innocent, even back then. He-"

"Yeah, whatever." Kallen dismissed Cécile with a wave of the hand. "You can keep sticking up for Suzaku if you want, but nothing's going to change my opinion of that idiot."

"Just like nothing will change people's minds about Lelouch?"

The redhead scowled at that.

"We'll see, now won't we?"

 **There was a brief scene of Lelouch putting Nunnally to bed, followed by Tamaki complaining to Ohgi in their dingy base. It seemed he'd wanted their terrorist cell to take credit for Clovis' assassionation.**

 **"Naoto," Ohgi muttered, staring at a picture of his best friend, long dead, "I'm not cut out for this."**

Something about the picture onscreen caused a tingle to start at the back of Ohgi's mind, and he thought he heard a voice from the speakers around the theatre - like a whisper from beyond the veils of reality, brash and bothered.

 _'Damn straight, you bloody muppet!'_

Ohgi jumped in his seat and turned his head back and forth, but there was no one there, just Villetta next to him and the other members of the audience. Nobody else seemed to have heard the voice either, and once it ended the whisper didn't come back, but even after scratching his scalp the tingle wouldn't go away.

 **Next was a brief clip of** **Benjamin Scrud, the proprietor of a small costume shop and partner in crime with Lelouch and Rivalz when it came to gambling, under the influence of Geass. He recounted the command he'd been given from Lelouch, confirming he knew exactly what to do.**

 **"Once the slide system is in order it's all yours." Apparently he was in the process of making something for the young prince, but only Rivalz in the audience recognized the man and what he meant. "Once I've erased all the evidence I should forget this ever happened, right?"**

"Tohdoh-san," Chiba whispered to the stern-faced man beside her. "That man, he was on Schneizel's list."

Tohdoh nodded.

"The list of suspected victims of Geass. Indeed, our betrayal of Zero seemed to be based on accurate information after all."

Though they tried to keep it to themselves, they spoke just loudly enough for Gino, who was still flustered wondering when he was going to appear on the big screen and wasn't paying attention, to overhear. He raised a brow and blinked, unsure if he'd heard right.

"... You what, now?"

 **The setting jumped back and forth between Lloyd and C** **écile and Lelouch, explaining the Pureblood plan to** **dismantle the Honourary Britannian system. If Clovis' death could be pinned on Suzaku it would lend credence to Honourary Britannians being a liability in the army, and worse, in society in general, and Jeremiah would have little trouble as Area 11's Acting Consul in revoking the status from any and all Elevens.**

'Damn him!' Kallen frowned to herself at one of the clips that flashed onscreen and cast a quick glare to Zero. 'Suzaku had a 94 percent operational efficiency? On his first time with the Lancelot!? My best average is only 93 percent! GOD, I _hate_ him!'

"Orange!" Ohgi growled to the man-machine across the aisle, focussing on the more pressing issue of Jeremiah's treachery. Of everyone assembled, he had the most reason to be angry. If not for Naoto convincing him to join La Résistance he probably would have applied for Honourary Citizenship. "You're despicable!"

Jeremiah wasn't all too concerned. Lelouch changed his views, and nothing anyone said about his past could affect him now. Besides, he could kill everyone in the room bare-handed with his augmentations if he chose to. If nothing else, he could still hold that over their heads, and that single fact alone was enough to keep him grinning.

"Like I said, get it out of your system."

Villetta tapped Ohgi on the shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"I was in on the plan too."

"Oh." Ohgi shut up real fast. "Right."

 **It was time for Kallen's meeting with Lelouch at Tokyo Tower, and contrary to his recorded instructions over the phone in the shower scene, Ohgi, Yoshida, and Sugiyama came with her. At first they thought Suzaku was the one to contact them, but then an announcement went through on the PA calling for Kallen to pick up "her" phone that had been "lost."**

 **Not a moment after doing so she received a call, the phone's display showing the caller ID: ZERO.**

"Whaaaaaa...?" Rivalz questioned slowly, his tone starting low but rising in disbelief.

Nina's jaw dropped, as did Milly's.

"No way."

Anya grinned and raised her phone, a bright flash coming from its forward lens.

"At least the camera function still works. You should see the looks on your faces!"

"E-hem?" Rakshata frowned at the pinkette across the aisle. "No photography in the theatre, please?"

 **Jeremiah swivelled in his chair to face Diethard.**

 **"You handled His Majesty's memorial program very well. A little too weepy for my tastes, but..."**

Guilford harrumphed, turning his head back to address Jeremiah.

"Well, Gottwald! You sound almost loyal to Britannia right here. Too bad Zero knew about 'Orange' and blackmailed you with it."

Jeremiah only laughed back, deep and closed-mouthed.

"That's right, Lord Guilford, you always did want to know about 'Orange.'"

"So you're finally admitting you were involved in a scandal?"

The disgraced Margrave, the cyborg assassin, the paragon of loyalty placed two fingers over his bionic left eye, adopting a pose reminiscent of Zero.

"'Orange' is the only truth I follow. It is the symbol of my LOYALTY - the beginning of my redemption _and_ the end."

Gino leaned over to Nina, the person sitting closest to him, and spoke in a hush, a hand to his mouth.

"That guy's awesome."

Anya leaned in over Gino's seat and smirked.

"You have no idea how right you are."

 **Kallen and her terrorist friends had boarded the train as per Lelouch's instructions, and as they swept their vision around, checking for the elusive person ordering them around, the one they were to meet, the one who'd saved their lives in Shinjuku, Kallen's new phone went off again.**

 _ **"Face forward and look to your right. What do you see?"**_

 **"The Britannian city. It was stolen away from us and built on our sacrifice."**

 _ **"And on the left?"**_

 **"I see our city - remnants of a desiccated city after the Britannians sucked it dry."**

"Redundant much?" Lloyd hummed, earning a shush from the others.

As soon as the theatre was quiet once more, only the dark strums of background music coming from the screen able to be heard, Rivalz made a quick comment.

"Hey, Sir Weinberg, I totally get what you mean about the spy stuff."

The blonde grinned back.

"What'd I tell ya? Sexy!"

 **At Lelouch's direction, Kallen and the others made their way through the train, pushing by fellow passengers left and right, none seeming bothered by the girl or her Eleven friends.**

"I wish you guys brought me along."

"Tamaki," Kallen began as reply, shaking her head, "we didn't bring you along because you didn't WANT to come along."

"You should'a brought me anyway!"

Not paying the two any mind, Milly pointed to a couple of the passengers onscreen.

"Is that...?" There seemed to be orange around their irises.

 **Finally, in the last car of the train, Kallen gasped, a dark figure standing before her, back turned.**

 **"Was it you?" she asked. "On the phone?"**

 **No reply. She tried again.**

 **"Well!? Was that you in Shinjuku? Was that ceasefire your doing!?"**

 **The music onscreen built with a drumroll, and at the last second, as a thump of deep brass and strings sounded, the figure turned just as the train entered a tunnel, casting a shadow over everyone. The figure was none other than the masked hero: Zero.**

There was silence in the audience then a deep breath, the beginning of an eruption...

LLLLLLLLLLLL

Lelouch yawned as he made his way down the stairs to the kitchen. Sleeping in all morning and afternoon was new for him, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant either. In the kitchen sitting at the table was C.C., a plate of pizza in front of her and a stack of still steaming boxes at its center, and she waved a greeting to her fellow immortal as he approached, a strand of cheese connecting the bite in her mouth to the slice in her hand.

Lelouch waved back, another yawn inflating his chest and stealing his words. His right palm was marked with arcane slashes of red.

"Well, look at you," C.C. chided playfully as Lelouch went to the fridge, pulling an orange and a container of milk from its chilled confines. "I never thought I'd see the day you started acting like a proper immortal."

"Yes, well," he replied honestly, "maybe I'm starting to get used to it. Your bad habits have finally begun to wear off on me."

"Don't be such a prude, L.L."

"I'm only as prudish as I need to be around an unrefined woman such as yourself."

C.C. fluttered her eyes and smirked.

"You wish to see how refined I can be, gallant sir?"

"No, thank you." Lelouch had acquired a plate of his own and filled a glass with milk, and now he sat at the table, opposite C.C. "If it pleases, m'lady, I'd rather not wear masks anymore."

"You're a party pooper."

Lelouch grabbed a slice of pizza and chuckled.

"And you don't do your own laundry, so we're even." He took a bite, savouring the taste of cheese, spice, and overwhelming grease, a taste he realized he'd never fully appreciated until he became immortal, and chewed for a moment, a thought coming to mind. "By the way, where's Jeremiah? Shouldn't he be done harvesting for the day?"

The sun was starting to set already through the window of the farmhouse, and C.C. shrugged.

"Mm, no. He and Sayoko and Anya went out for a bit this morning before the sun was even up. They got invited to some meaningless get-together."

Lelouch hummed in mild disinterest, finishing his slice of concentrated happiness and sitting back.

"That sounds nice. They need to get out more anyway."

"They wanted me to come along too. You, however-" C.C. smirked, "-for obvious reasons, were not invited."

Lelouch chuckled again, true mirth still feeling foreign on his lips after so long laughing to cope with tragedy.

"Oh darn! Maybe next time?"

"Maybe. They said not to wait up."

"Oh well," Lelouch shrugged again. "I'm sure they're having a good time. And more pizza for us in the meanwhile! Pass the Hawaiian, would you, Cassandra?"

LLLLLLLLLLLL

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

Almost everyone in the theatre exploded in shock and fury, for one reason or another. Gino, Milly, and Rivalz were the only ones to not already know that Lelouch had been Zero, the one to create the persona, and they were suitably astounded. Tianzi was starting to connect the dots of how Lelouch and Zero could have been the same all along. Meanwhile, the others who shouted were beyond dismayed at the manner in which Zero first appeared, in utter incomprehension at how Kallen and her friends could have joined such a clearly untrustworthy character after such an overly theatric introduction. Tamaki was just mad that he didn't have the foresight to go along and witness Zero's birth like Kallen and Ohgi.

"Lelouch is Zero!?" Rivalz stood up and pointed to the one currently wearing the mask. "Then who're _you_!?"

Zero stood up.

"I was in the process of explaining to you just that, but you insisted on interru-"

"Did anyone else know about this!?" Milly demanded, her head twisting to check everyone's expressions so fast it looked like it was about to tear off.

"Yeah," Kallen replied with a shrug. "All the Black Knights know. Well, the officers do."

"And you?" Milly turned next to Cornelia and Guilford.

"We found out separately." Cornelia and Guilford exhanged a look. "But we did know before coming into this."

"Alright then, who's Zero now? Is that you under the mask, Lelouch?"

Zero remained calm, as calm as possible despite everyone interrupting him every time he started speaking. He got the distinct feeling nobody respected him.

"I am Zero - no one else."

Chiba stood up in a huff and scowled at the hero.

"No! No more games! We couldn't trust the first Zero, so why should we trust you? Who are you!?"

"I am Zero, and Zero is no one. He also everyone. He is an idea, and for that reason his identity is irrelevant."

Rakshata threw back her head in a loud laugh, stealing the spotlight.

"Nice save there, but really, who are you?"

"Are you someone we know?" Ohgi questioned next.

Kallen rolled her eyes.

"Leave him alone." She waved a hand in Zero's direction dismissively. "The way this..." She frowned and gestured to the screen, paused on the image of Zero facing her and the other terrorists down. "Well, whatever _this_ is, it's going over every detail, so I'm sure you'll all find out who he is eventually."

There was a moment of silence as the girl's words were processed, then Lloyd raised a brow.

"What do you mean 'you?'" he wondered, a devious smile playing at the corners of his mouth, threatening to ruin his poker face. "Does that mean you already know who Zero is behind the mask?"

Kallen nodded and answered nonchalantly.

"Yep."

To this, Zero tensed, his guard up and his whole body primed to bolt for the door.

"Uh, really?"

"Yep."

"Do tell, then, Miss Stadtfeld," Sayoko said gently, a look of calm hiding her internal debate over whether Lelouch would approve of executing everyone who knew too much.

"No." Kallen's quick reply stayed Sayoko's hand, but garnered an angry grunt from the others in the theatre. "You'll just have to wait to find out like everybody else."

Before anyone could say anything more, Kaguya interjected helpfully, placating the growing outrage with her natural loli charm.

"We could make it game, actually," she offered. "The moment anyone figures out who Zero is, just chime in."

Tianzi was the first to reply.

"I like games!" She clapped, and slowly but surely the others relaxed, calmed by the innocence of the still young Empress.

Sensing the time was right, Kaguya snapped her fingers.

"Alright, let's start then! GAME STA-RU-TO! Who already knows who Zero is?"

Everyone was taken aback by her enthusiasm, to varying degrees, but eventually the first hand was raised, Kallen's. Then came Tohdoh's, much to Chiba's astonishment beside him. Lloyd raised his hand next, accompanied by a giggle, followed by Cécile and Nina. Jeremiah's group was next, Sayoko and Anya joining him a second after him, then finally Empress Nunnally herself lifted a hand, indicating she too knew the answer to the best-kept secret in the world, much to Zero's horror.

"N-Nunnally?" he stuttered, feeling suddenly naked before her. "You... You know, then? About...?"

Nunnally didn't answer, instead pointing the remote to the screen and turning off the pause.

 **Zero stood swathed in his cape and made his declaration.**

 **"Britannia will not fall to terrorism. It's little better than childish nuisance. You should know your enemy: It is not people, but Britannia itself! It is a war you must wage, but not on the innocent. Take up your sword! Fight for justice!"**

The audience sat transfixed, the aura of invincibility surrounding Lelouch, even onscreen and not in person, almost absolute. His words sent a shiver down Kallen's spine, her more than perhaps anyone else in the room, igniting the same awe and wonder she'd first felt for the masked man, and stirring her inner well of thoughts, old emotions of love and loss hitting her like a brick.

'Why, Lelouch? Why did you have to go?'

Jeremiah had his arms crossed and was nodding, an almost fatherly look of approval and pride on his face, the expression mirrored on Sayoko beside him. Gino was grinning, on the very edge of his seat, and in front of him Rivalz scratched his head.

"That's Zero, alright. But underneath the mask is Lelouch. How could he have gone from wanting to save the world to wanting to destroy it?"

"A better question," Cornelia added tersely, "would be, 'how much of what he's showing here is the truth?' All we know is that he became Zero and then eventually the Demon Emperor. Clearly, only one of those two extremes was his true self."

"Are you so sure about that?" Lloyd floated the question with an unmistakable tone of mischief. Rakshata agreed.

"He sounds pretty honest right here. If he truly didn't believe his own words, then we wouldn't have believed them either."

Chiba scoffed from the front row.

"Nonsense! We had no choice but to believe in him. He used his Geass to control us!"

 **Kallen had had enough.**

 **"Oh please, that's all easy enough to say, isn't it? Hiding behind that mask, why should we even trust you?"**

 **Ohgi and the others followed Kallen's lead, agreeing the mask had to go. Then, after a prolonged moment of silence, as if debating what to do, Zero gave his easy reply.**

 **"Very well. I'll show you. But rather than my face, bear witness to my power!"**

Villetta and Ohgi tensed, waiting for the Zero onscreen to use his Geass. But then, strangely, the moment never came. The ancient sigil was not unleashed and not a one of the terrorists were put under its control.

 **"If I deliver to you the impossible," Zero offered, "then I might have earned your trust."**

"Sooooo..." Gino whistled, hands outstretched, showing he was waiting for an answer. "You guys said you got geassed. When, uh... When did that happen again?"

"Hmph!" Chiba didn't even spare the Britannian the courtesy of a glance as she made her excuse. "He must've waited until later to use his Geass!"

"Un-huh..."

Anya leaned forward again, placing an elbow on the back of Gino's seat. She set her cheek against her palm and smirked, her face next to Gino's.

"Methinks the Black Knights doth protest too much."

 **Apparently much later Suzaku sat in a cell, bound in a straightjacket and joined by Lloyd coming to visit. The scientist confirmed something for Suzaku, the audience understanding through his vagueness that neither Lelouch nor the girl, C.C., had been found dead in Shinjuku. That covered, the topic fell to more immediate concerns.**

 **"You may be getting a trial but no one is pulling for you, certainly," he said, just as blas** **é as ever.**

 **Suzaku wasn't having it though.**

 **"But the courts are where truth comes to light!"**

Kallen began to laugh derisively while Kaguya slapped a palm to her face, embarrassed at her cousin's seemingly nonexistant comprehension of reality.

Zero couldn't help but agree, though he kept the thought to himself. Suzaku had been a fool. And he'd died a fool, too - a fool that destroyed everything and everyone around him in his quest for power, a quest he refused to admit was only for himself and his own ego. In the end, that quest for power had turned everyone against him, and no matter what else had happened, he had to accept it: He'd been the one to ruin his relationship with his best friend beyond repair. There'd been a chance, a singular moment in which they could have regained their bonds and rekindled their trusts, but he'd let it slip through his fingers, setting in motion the chain of events that would condemn both himself and his friend to their dooms, alone and unloved in a sea of regret.

Lelouch had been the Zero everyone deserved. But he... He, the new Zero, was the one everyone got instead. What a twisted end, a tragedy worthy of the great poets of yore!

 **Onscreen the night had finally arrived, and the procession carrying Suzaku to his trial, to his noose, rolled down the street to a chorus of cheers from misinformed Britannians. Jeremiah was in the lead in his personal Sutherland while Suzaku kneeled upon an open-topped vehicle behind him, bound and gagged by a shock collar as if he was already confirmed to be guilty. Along the sidelines Diethard watched from a news van, filming the whole thing and orchestrating the camera angles like a master propagandist.**

 **He scoffed.**

 **"What a circus this is." He paused, frowning bitterly. "And I'm as corrupt as any of them."**

"Oh-ho!" Tamaki laughed, pointing crassly to the screen as he habitually did when something amused him. "I always knew Diethard wasn't such a bad guy! You remember me sayin' that, right, Kallen? Yeah, 'course you do, 'cuz I'm an awesome judge 'a character!"

Kallen stiffled a laugh and patted her friend on the shoulder.

"That's right, Tamaki. You can't pilot a knightmare through a single battle, but at least you're a 'good judge of character.'"

"... I'm a good pilot..."

 **There was a series of clips, one flashing after the other, one of them being none other than Kaguya herself.**

Tianzi clapped and cheered at her friend's appearance onscreen. Kaguya, meanwhile, crossed her arms, a cute, pouty frown settling on her face.

"Is a one-second cameo all I get?"

 **Then something unexpected happened, something unexpected to the people onscreen, though not to those who'd already lived through the event in the audience. Jeremiah stopped the convoy as he received an alert on his comm.**

 _ **"Acting Consul Jeremiah!"**_

 **Jeremiah tapped the tranceiver hooked over his ear and responded.**

 **"What is it?"**

 _ **"Vehicle approaching the main highway from '3rd.' We just let it through as you instructed, but..."**_

 **"Do you believe the target could be a terrorist vehicle?"**

 _ **"Well, sir, it's Prince Clovis' car."**_

Guilford raised a brow, glancing back at Jeremiah. The other man seemed perfectly content, even pleased with what he was seeing, the beginnings of his downfall in Britannian society, at least until Lelouch the Demon arrived on the scene. So he truly wasn't in league with Zero, with Lelouch, at that time, planning to hand Suzaku over from the start? But still, that left the question of "Orange."

 **Tamaki and the other members of Ohgi's team watched the scene on their TV, and Tamaki growled that the convoy halting, apparently something "Zero" had predicted happening, was nothing more than a coincidence.**

"Well," Lloyd giggled, "aren't you a charming fellow. I first took you for one of the 'useful idiot' types, but here you're proving yourself to be a sceptic extraordinaire!"

"Oh, yeah..." Tamaki trailed off as his mind valiantly attempted, and failed, to supply him with a witty retort. "Actually, I became Zero's Number One Fan, like, right away."

"Is that so? Ah well, my mistake. I guess I was right about you after all; quick to attach yourself to the biggest boss in sight. And who could be bigger than Zero, am I right? After all, he's larger than life."

"Uh... Yeah... Wait, are you makin' fun a' me?" There was no malice in his tone, in fact being a legitimate question. Tamaki never got his answer though, instead receiving only a light giggle from the knightmare engineer.

 **The procession stopped, and from the other direction came a single vehicle, white and gold, draped in the flag of Britannia. It was Prince Clovis' personal car. Or so it seemed at first glance.**

 **In the driver's seat was Kallen, dressed in the fineries Clovis preferred on his chauffeurs, and she also wore a nervous frown.**

 **'Hope they can't tell it's fake.'**

 **Sure enough, the vehicle had been patched together and given a coat of fresh paint, but was not in fact the same one Clovis had used. There was a blur, indicating a flashback, and the origin of the car was revealed. Zero stood atop a mound of trash in a junkyard, and before him was Kallen and Ohgi, the only ones who'd been willing to work with him. He showed them a picture, what he needed them to fabricate, and set them to work. Though they could hardly believe it, he said they didn't need anything else to save Suzaku.**

"Ah," Jeremiah said quietly, in awe of his liege. "It was a ruse. I see now!"

Almost everyone was nodding along, each secretly, or in a few cases not-so-secretly, amazed at Lelouch's cunning. Rivalz snapped his fingers.

"I always wondered how Zero got that car. But why'd he want it to look like that?"

"So Jeremiah wouldn't fire on him without listening first." Nunnally replied immediately, knowing the exact answer from Lelouch's own mind. "He knew...! He knew exactly what buttons to push!"

Kaguya agreed.

"He was always a smooth-talker. He knew exactly what people needed to hear." For a second a wave of melancholy hit the girl. "I should know. It's politics one-oh-one."

 **"You dare desecrate His Highness' transport!?" Jeremiah's voice echoed across the bridge, amplified by his knightmare's external speakers. "Come out of there!"**

 **The cobbled-together car stopped before the procession and the flag across it disappeared into flames and cinders, revealing a shadowy caped figure standing atop the cab. It was Zero.**

 **"I am," he declared for all the world to hear, brazen and proud, "Zero!"**

 **The media went berserk, every news report in the Empire covering Zero's grand entrance before a full military convoy. Everyone was watching, the Ashford Student Council, Ohgi's team in their ghetto, even the Japan Liberation Front, Tohdoh casting an intrigued look at the masked man on his screen, the one who would go on to destroy the world and build a new one in its place.**

"Okay," Gino clarified, a glint in his eye, starstruck. "I retract my previous statement: Lelouch didn't have brass balls. They were forged from pure adamantium!"

Some of the girls blushed, but Rakshata laughed.

"Impossible. With our current metal-working techniques we'd never be able to replace the testicles with fully functioning adamantium prosthetics."

Next was Sayoko's turn to laugh, and she wrapped her arm around Jeremiah, glancing between his legs.

"Actually, Miss Chawla..."

 **Behind his mask Lelouch looked grim. There was a fire in his eyes, determination in its purest form.**

 **'Now to return the favour, Suzaku.'**

Zero couldn't believe it. Was he imagining it?

'But, he said...!' he thought to himself. 'Lelouch said he only saved me to reveal himself as Zero! He lied. He lied to me! Why would he purposely tell me something to make me angry!?'

 _"He knew exactly what people needed to hear."_

Kaguya's words from before popped to the forefront of Zero's thoughts, and for the first time he gained some clarity into the inner workings of Lelouch's mind. And with it came a chilling pang of doubt and sorrow in his breast.

'Back then, he told me what I wanted to hear; because I wouldn't believe him if he told the truth. No! Lelouch...!'

 **Jeremiah decided he'd seen enough, and with a shot from his pistol the signal was sent, several more Sutherlands landing from VTOLs around Zero's perch.**

 **"First things first," he said gruffly, again allowing his voice to be broadcast from his knightmare's speakers. "Why don't you lose that mask?"**

 **Zero began to comply, bringing his fingers to his mirrored helm, but rather than remove it they continued on, pointing to the sky, and snapped together. In immediate response, somehow triggered by the action, the humpback section of the car behind him fell apart, revealing a menacing capsule.**

Cécile was quick to gasp, registering the meaning of the sight onscreen a little faster than the others around the room.

"The poison gas!"

Meanwhile, across the aisle, having finished cleaning his earlier spit-up of blood, Xingke sat back and smiled, thoroughly amused.

"But there _was_ no poision gas."

 **Behind his mask Zero grinned and confirmed the audience's thoughts, predicting Jeremiah's response to the sinister, but ultimately harmless device in his possession. Suzaku knew though, and he began to alert the Margrave about the capsule's secret, but his shock collar stopped his speech.**

 **In his news van Diethard began issuing orders rapid-fire to his underlings, but they refused to follow them, frightened by the display of several-tonne warmachines brandishing rifles, and the mysterious terrorist holding the entire crowd hostage with a bio-weapon.**

 **"Amateurs!" Diethard spat, and he grabbed a camera and flung himself from the vehicle, getting as close to Zero as he dared.**

 **All the while, Jeremiah bartered with the masked man.**

 **"FINE!" He eventually relented. "What are your demands?"**

 **"An exchange. This for Kururugi."**

 **"Like hell!" Jeremiah glanced back to the prisoner behind him. "He's charged with high treason for murdering a prince. I can't hand him over!"**

 **The crowd was in silent suspense, a feeling shared by the audience witnessing these events in their entirety for the very first time.**

 **"The man who killed Clovis," Zero finally announced, receiving a close-up from Diethard's camera and looking square into its center, "was MYSELF!"**

 **Again the media went wild, Diethard along with them, a gleam of overflowing excitement in his eye. Jeremiah wasn't so easily pleased, and he levelled his pistol straight at Zero's head.**

 **"Careful," the masked man warned, his tone suddenly shifting to become almost goading. "You don't wish the public to learn of 'Orange,' do you?"**

Guilford gave short and haughty scoff at his once-friend's expense.

"And now we finally get to see what you were hiding all this time."

Jeremiah shrugged.

"You and me both."

 **A slot in Zero's mask retracted, revealing his left eye, and he spoke the words:**

 _ **"You'll do everything in your power to let us go. Your prisoner as well!"**_

"Oooooh~!"

While everyone else collectively slapped themselves for not guessing Geass was involved sooner, Jeremiah spoke up to be heard.

"I said I didn't remember. I said I didn't mean to let them get away. But did you listen? NO!" Guilford had already begun to apologize to the cyborg for taunting him to the brink of insanity while Cornelia frowned, refusing to admit her error, but Jeremiah ignored them both. Instead, he bellowed a long and hearty laugh. "JEREMIAH GOTTWALD IS FINALLY _VINDICATED_! AH-HA-HAHAHAHA!"

 **In his Geass-induced delirium Jeremiah released Suzaku, who quickly made his way to Zero. The two conversed, and were promptly joined by Kallen.**

"Side-note," Gino added mischieviously, "Kallen, you look fine in that chauffeur outfit."

Hearing that, Kallen almost retched. Right next to Gino, though nobody noticed, Nina was blushing, nodding her unspoken agreement with the Knight's assessment.

 **Zero pulled a remote from under his cape and pressed a button, and the gas capsule opened, spewing forth billowing purple plumes of smoke. Villetta and Kewell reacted in anger, moving to stop the rogue's escape, but Jeremiah, still under the effects of Geass, intercepted them, spouting profanities and threats of demotion for not letting Zero leave unharmed, and in all the commotion Zero grabbed Suzaku and Kallen in his arms and jumped from the bridge, falling safely into an open getaway vehicle courtesy of Ohgi.**

Tianzi bounced in her seat, a childlike grin consuming her face.

"This is so exciting!"

Rivalz puffed out his chest and raised his chin.

"That guy was my best friend," he declared, pride in his voice.

Gino raised his arms in defeat.

"That's it! I don't care if he was a demon, Lelouch was awesome. As of this minute, I'm his number one fan."

"Sir Weinberg!" Guilford glared at his fellow Britannian, utterly appalled. "Lelouch is the greatest villain in history!"

"Yes, I know, and I'll be the first to condemn his wrongdoings. He was a bad guy, sure, but he was an _entertaining_ bad guy."

"Besides," Anya agreed with a shrug, "everyone knows the villains are always the coolest."

"Exactly! Of everyone here, I knew at least you'd have my back, Anya."

The silent responses Gino received from the others in the audience were mixed, but lay heavily on the side of disapproval, especially from Cornelia and Guilford. Others, like Milly or Tohdoh, bore more reserved expressions, unable, at least for the time being, to reconcile what good they knew of Lelouch with the later atrocities he'd committed. As for Tamaki, his response was anything but silent.

"Oi! That's not fair! I was his best bud way before you!"

Gino in turn raised his brows at the fiery-tempered man, intrigued at the challenge.

"Are you proposing a fanboy-off?"

"Bring it, panzy!"

 **Back in the ghettos, safely away from the Area 11 Colonial Army and police now searching endlessly for them, Zero decided to have a little chat with Suzaku. It didn't go well.**

 **"Britannia is rotten." The shadowy hero gave his verdict. "If you wish to bring change to this world, then join me!"**

 **Suzaku demanded an explanation for killing Clovis. Zero gave it. He questioned the use of poison gas on the crowd. Zero stated it was only smoke - a bluff, the result being not a single death.**

 **"The result?" Suzaku asked, not expecting an answer. "That's all that matters to you, I suppose."**

 **"Come join me. The Britannia you serve is a worthless dominion."**

 **"Maybe that's true, but... But this nation...! It can be changed for the better. And from within."**

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Kallen was already starting to lose her temper with Suzaku's rhetoric. "Britannia wouldn't change. You were used as a GODDAMN SCAPEGOAT and you still don't think MAYBE the problem goes a bit too deep for PEACEFUL CHANGE!?"

Cornelia frowned and looked away, but added her agreement.

"She's right. The system was designed to be resistant to change. That's the nature of the Leviathan."

Tohdoh sighed and shook his head, hating to say it but realizing the truth could not be denied.

"Kururugi was a fool - a pawn - from the start to the end. Britannia would no more bend to his whims than the mighty oak in a light breeze. A system such as that could only be broken in twine from the force of a great windstorm."

 **Suzaku refused Zero's offer, returning to face his court-martial even knowing the whole system was bent on finding him guilty. He left with a single parting phrase:**

 **"And any ends gained through contemptible means aren't worth anything."**

"MORON!" Kallen screamed at the Suzaku depicted to the theatre. "You. DAMN. MORON!"

Tears of rage, and something else, streamed down the redhead's face as she howled fruitlessly at the screen, willing Suzaku to change his mind and prevent Zero's downfall - Lelouch's downfall. She couldn't care less about that idiot, but the fact he'd ruined Lelouch as well was unacceptable. Because of Suzaku foiling Lelouch at every turn, and driving him to his wits' end... Because of Suzaku Lelouch could never tell Kallen if he loved her or not. And that's why she could do nothing but scream her frustrations in vain.

"You'd rather sell out your own people for your ideals than actually DO SOMETHING TO HELP!? Your ideals are GARBAGE! I HATE YOU!"

Nobody said a word as Kallen vented her fury, some sharing her thoughts, others not wanting to get involved. Nunnally looked to Zero questioningly. He was trembling. And if she listened carefully, she thought she could hear soft sobs of despair coming from him, distorted through his mask's voice synthesizer.

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	6. Entropic Catalyst: Code Geass

**Entropic Catalyst: Code Geass**

Lelouch slid down the carpet leading to his throne leaving a streak of red behind him. If no other part of Zero Requiem succeeded, at least his death would truly be a dramatic display for the world to remember for years.

Finally coming to a stop and lying still, Lelouch stared forward as if in a trance - the trance of dying. The world seemed so foreign all of a sudden, the haze beginning to cover his vision dulling colours to mere black and white. But there was red too, hovering over him, ruffling lightly in the breeze like flower petals.

Was that Nunnally?

At the back of his mind Lelouch remembered, everything he'd done since embarking on this great journey called "Geass" was for his sister - becoming Zero, fighting Britannia, even becoming the Demon Emperor - but in the end she would never know it. The secrets he took with him to the grave could only serve to bring ruin to Nunnally and the world if they were found out, and the thought he was sparing them all such turmoil eased Lelouch's last moments.

But then why? If Nunnally didn't know the truth then she should hate him. So why was she crying for him, then?

The world was only shades of grey and a splotch of blood red to Lelouch's eyes, and the only sound he could hear was wind rushing. Strange, since the wind levels were predicted to be low that day. Could it be an illusion brought on by the random firing of nerves and synapses in his brain, the final throes before they shut down forever? Or was it the sound of his very life draining from his body?

It didn't matter. What he felt now would be over soon enough, and Lelouch couldn't be any more content with the ending he'd bought with his sweat, tears, and finally blood. He took one last breath.

"I..." he whispered, delirious and on the edge of consciousness. "I destroy... the world... and created... a... new..."

His voice was faint and trembling, and he couldn't get all the words out, trailing off between them and even cutting some short. And then he exhaled and his eyes shut, and even the red of Nunnally's dress faded into black.

LLLLLLLLLLLL

 _'...'_

 _There was a whisper, soft but somehow pressing, and Lelouch heard it through the darkness, echoing in his skull._

 _'...?'_

 _What was it saying? It sounded so familiar, and yet it was like nothing he'd ever heard before. It was warm like friends, yet also cold like enemies. It was questioning, but also telling. It was close enough to reach out and touch, yet too distant to ever truly know._

 _'...'_

 _It was calling to him, and Lelouch struggled to open his eyes, to attempt to find the inhuman speaker. They refused to budge though, as if glued shut with sleep. His mind was swirling with thoughts, repetitive, unfocussed, unclear, each one coming to him for an instant before leaving again, becoming lost in a maze of contradictory information._

 _'...?'_

 _With a singular effort Lelouch forced his eyes open, struggling against the weight keeping them shut. He didn't know what he expected to see. He didn't know where he was or when or even why he bothered trying to find out. He'd acted without thinking, his mind too jumbled to make sense of anything, instead relying on instinct._

 _There was only white before him, an expanse of white that went on for eternity in all directions except for a spot of orange, Jupiter swirling curiously above him. Lelouch attempted to turn his head, but it was locked in place. He couldn't feel any of his limbs and couldn't move them either._

 _'...'_

 _He attempted to speak, to reply to the strange voice calling to him, but no words came._

 _'...'_

 _The weight against Lelouch's eyelids grew and he fought to keep them open, for what reason he did not know, but eventually they shut once more, the empty landscape of white turning black._

 _'...'_

LLLLLLLLLLLL

Lelouch gasped for air and his eyes shot open. There was something over him, a sheet of white, covering his whole body, and his face too. He couldn't tell where he was for sure, but he could taste disinfectant in the air, and a voice, male, with a tone of cold professionalism, was somewhere nearby, speaking.

"... can therefore conclude the cause of death was lack of blood and subsequent organ failure starting with the heart, as previously mentioned."

Was that an autopsy report? Was that _his_ autopsy report? It sure sounded like it, and as Lelouch continued to listen, not daring to move a muscle under the sheet, he recognized some of the lines.

"Subject was in good health, although his mental state was questionable."

 _Before his death, while still in New Pendragon and soon to fly back to Japan to make ready for his demise, Lelouch assembled more than a hundred people, teams of soldiers, doctors, after-death specialists, and others still, and met with them all in his Imperial Court._

 _They were nervous at first, unsure why they'd been called by the Emperor himself and been made to stand before him, but as soon as they were alone with him, sitting in his throne and with every door shut to make the meeting private, Lelouch flicked his fingers by his eyes and smirked._

 _ **"I, Lelouch vi Britannia command you..."**_

"Additional note," the man reading Lelouch's report continued, "the subject was found to be wearing contact lenses at time of death - will require optometrist to confirm, but first inspection indicates they were purely for cosmetic purposes and were much thicker than regular lenses."

Lelouch frowned. He was alive when clearly he should not have been. Just a moment ago he'd been in Tokyo, bleeding out in the finest performance of his life, but now he was somewhere else, in a sterile morgue no doubt. This wasn't according to plan. No, he'd planned out everything, down to the smallest detail, and this was most certainly not part of it!

He'd arranged everything ahead of time, made sure his body would be properly taken care of after his death. No detail went overlooked. After he was stabbed by Zero Lelouch would immediately be taken by geassed soldiers to his private jet and flown back to Britannia. Once there, he'd be rushed to a morgue in the city of Angels, in the grand duchy of California, an establishment small enough to be overlooked by questioning eyes, where geassed staff would pass him along to the next team as quickly as possible, to place him in a coffin and then aboard the Damocles to be launched into the sun.

Every report and every record of this process had been fabricated in advance, and multiple steps were to be purposely excluded to hurry things along even more. Autopsy, embalming, even getting him out of his bloodstained robes and into a fresh change of clothes, all would be skipped over. The longer Lelouch's corpse was left around the greater the chance someone could discover something they shouldn't, and then all Zero Requiem could be forfeit.

By Lelouch's estimation his plan had gone smoothly so far and he'd made it to the morgue safely, and the pathologists there were skipping normal proceedures, as ordered, to go straight to filing their prewritten reports. So far so good, but once again, the fact was that Lelouch was still alive, and that quite derailed the whole point of Zero Requiem.

Carefully, Lelouch began to sit up and pull the sheet off of himself. He'd been laying on an operating table, and getting a look down at himself he was pleased to see he was still clothed in white, stained with dry blood.

Without the sheet obscuring his vision the former hero-turned-villain turned his head to get a clearer picture of where he was. It was a somewhat small room, rounded about the edges and uniformly grey, impressing a feeling of claustrophobia into him. Along one of the shorter walls, opposite the entrance, was a line of square locker doors, and to the side was a large alcove outfitted with a desk and computer, something of a work station for on-duty staff.

"That concludes this report," finished the doctor, who Lelouch could now see had a clipboard held in front of him and was reading to another doctor standing nearby. Both of them had rings of orange around their irises.

"Alright, let's get him ready for the undertakers," replied the second one, looking directly at Lelouch and moving in close, not at all bothered that he was awake and sitting up rather than laying dead and still. "They said they'll be here around eight."

The two doctors approached Lelouch and he pushed himself off the operating table, feeling a bit unsteady on his feet. He half-shambled a few steps away and turned back to see one of the white-coated men go to fetch a rolling cart, returning to help transfer Lelouch's body onto it, going through the motions even though he was no longer there.

Lelouch couldn't help but shake his head as he watched the two professionals mime their work. In his Geass command he'd ordered everyone to ignore anything suspicious, but he hadn't expected such a literal result. It seemed the good doctors had classified a missing body, now getting up and walking away, as suspicious, and were therefore acting as if it were still right there.

All the better for him, Lelouch decided, going for the door to get out and leaving the two pawns to their task. He may not have known how he survived his assassination, but what Lelouch did know was he needed to get away, to find some private place to stop and regroup, and hopefully figure out just what in the hell was going on.

Before he could do anything else though, Lelouch blinked and scowled as he felt something rough against his eyes. With practiced skill he touched two fingers to them and removed the contacts keeping his Geass in check. He really should have considered taking them out before going to his death. Sleeping with them in always left a scratchy feeling behind when he woke up.

Though the door leading to freedom looked thick and heavy Lelouch had little difficulty getting it open, and passed through swiftly. Beyond this point were other workers who may not have been put under his spell, and he silently cursed to himself at his ill luck. All was not lost though. If he ran into anyone he could just use his Geass so they ignored him like those doctors before. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it would have to be enough. Once he found out why he was still alive he could contact Suzaku, no, contact Zero, and they could arrange a new ending to their plan. If he had the choice between living in secret, a now universally reviled and "dead" tyrant, or attempting to follow through with death, Lelouch wasn't yet sure which he'd choose.

Once he was through the door the Black King took one step, coming out into a long and near empty hallway, then halted abruptly at the unexpected sight that awaited him.

"It cannot be...!" Sitting on a bench built into the corridor wall with his head in his hands was Jeremiah Johann Gottwald. "Sire, you're...!"

"Jeremiah?" Lelouch questioned in a deadpan. "What are you doing here? After the assassination you were supposed to go back to the safehouse I set you up with." A head of pink leaned forward on the bench beside Jeremiah to gawk at the bloodstained emperor and he frowned. "And what's Anya doing here?"

Strangely, the girl was still clad in her straightjacket from the execution procession, unfastened now so she could use her limbs, of course.

"After the mob freed me from your float I followed Mr. Orange," she answered blandly, unconcerned at seeing a dead man walking, her eyes only slightly widening. "I just went where he went, and he went with the guys who took your body away."

"Is that so, Jeremiah?" Lelouch stared daggers at his servant, his Geass glowing accusing red. "You didn't follow my orders."

"Many apologies, My Liege," Jeremiah said solemnly, rising from his seat only to fall to his knees before his master. "But when I saw your eyes shut forever I couldn't help myself. I couldn't bear to leave your side even for a moment! What if something happened to your body and I wasn't there? I would never forgive myself!"

"So you accompanied the crew who flew me back to Britannia?"

"I didn't take my eyes off you once!"

Anya cocked her head to the side and added a quick sidenote to the cyborg's explanation.

"He didn't even take a nap the whole time."

"Yes," he confirmed. "That was my Catalepsean Implant. I can forestall sleep for some time with it. I didn't dare let you out of my sight for such a selfish thing as rest."

Lelouch didn't react, instead keeping his baleful red gaze centered on his favoured servant.

"I see. And you intended to...? What? You're well-known as my enforcer, Jeremiah, and upon my death you had to disappear. Why did you risk our entire operation?"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. I planned to stay with you to the very end and ensure your body was properly taken care of. After confirming you were aboard the Damocles I would take my leave to the farm as you planned."

"And Sayoko? You were supposed to make contact with her."

"I'm sorry, Sire. I don't know what became of Agent Shinozaki, but I'm sure when she didn't see me at the rendez-vous point she went on ahead without me."

Anya watched the two men converse with an empty stare and half-lidded eyes. Something inside of her was different, she'd been feeling it for around a month now, ever since the battle for the Damocles. She hadn't lost consciousness once in all that time, and more importantly certain memories had reappeared in her mind. A boy with long blonde hair and Marianne the Flash, and then cracks of gunfire, a stylized "V" that seemed to swallow her soul and leave her a lifeless husk - these were the memories that stuck out to her the most. And the same V was in each of Lelouch's eyes.

"Why are you alive, Lulu?" she interrupted with the usual lack of emotion in her tone, but strangely addressing Lelouch with his silly nickname. "You were dead just a few minutes ago. Are you like V.V.?"

Lelouch's gaze shot down to glare at the pinkette.

"How do you know that name?" he demanded slowly, menacingly low. Anya merely shrugged.

"I dunno. I saw him once. He killed your mom, I think."

"V.V..." Jeremiah's one natural eye widened in a sudden stupified rage. "He did WHAT!?"

Lelouch waved a hand dismissively at his Knight of Orange, not letting his sight leave Anya for even a moment.

"Calm yourself, Jeremiah. Sir Alstreim, you asked if I was like V.V.?"

She nodded noncommittally.

"Yeah. You know, not dying, not getting old."

"How do you know about that?"

"I dunno. Maybe I learned about it one time when I was unconscious."

Lelouch raised a brow.

"Unconscious?"

"They used to be complete blackouts, but I've started remembering things that happened. They're pretty weird."

Hearing this, Lelouch narrowed his eyes in hate.

'Mother's Geass...' he thought to himself, the explanation for Anya's trouble presenting itself to him in an instant. 'That woman... If anyone deserved to be called a witch it was her. Wait... A witch, just like V.V. Just like C.C...'

An answer to Lelouch's earlier mystery suddenly popped into his brain, and he turned his right palm over to get the first good look at it since waking up in the morgue. It was there: The bright slashes of red in the shape of a stylized "V."

"The mark of Geass..." Lelouch whispered in disbelief. "The reason I'm alive is because of a power that prevents my death. I've become immortal."

Jeremiah was astounded, a mix of relief and uncertainty stretching his face in an attempt to simultaneously smile and frown. Anya only nodded, accepting the improbable explanation as good enough.

How? How had this happened!? Lelouch traced back his encounters with bearers of the right palm Code and came up with a rough timeline. This Code had been V.V.'s, but then it was stolen by Charles. And the only chance to pass it on had been right before both he and his witch of a wife perished forever.

So that was it then? Did that mean Lelouch didn't have Geass anymore? He had to be sure.

"Jeremiah," he asked suddenly. "Look into my eyes and tell me what you see."

Jeremiah stood up from his kneeling position and did as he was told, staring straight into his master's burning gaze, then replied.

"I see Geass, Your Majesty."

"Geass? But Code should have..."

For another moment Lelouch paused, now in frantic thought. He obviously didn't know everything about Geass, mostly because a certain greenette refused to be up front with him about it, almost leading to complete disaster on multiple occasions and only prevented by his quick thinking. Still, Lelouch was certain he knew enough to solve this riddle.

Those with Complete Geass could take Code, and upon doing so the Code would activate after its new bearer's first death. Then Geass would be replaced completely. But he still had Geass, even being immortal. The only reason for that, the only variable that changed between C.C. having Code forced on her and Charles taking the power for himself, and him accidentally stealing it, was who they each got Code from. C.C. got Code from her own Contractor. And Charles stole it from his brother, his Contractor. Only Lelouch got Code from a foreign bearer. That would mean he hadn't completed his Contract with C.C. In other words...

"Without meaning to," Lelouch muttered to himself, "I seem to have discovered a way to exploit the system. To have both the Power of the King and the Code kings must follow..."

The Black King made a fist of his right hand and raised his chin high, a look of understanding and awe coming across his face as he continued.

"This loophole in the Contract... This new power...! It is mine alone to wield and a burden only I must ever bear. And I shall call it Code Geass."

Jeremiah's mouth fell open in dazzled wonder and he had to stop himself from clapping at Lelouch's triumphant declaration. Anya meanwhile didn't respond, not quite sure what all the fuss was about, and simply listened on in mild but disinterested confusion.

"We should probably get outta here," she said finally after a period of silence. "It might not be good if someone sees you're okay."

Lelouch nodded to the girl, surprised at himself. He was so caught up in his revelation he'd nearly forgotten he was officially dead.

"Right. We'll head straight for the safehouse. But first, tell me, Anya: Why are you so willing to help the Demon Emperor?"

The Knight of Six didn't answer right away, and her face revealed nothing of her inner thoughts. There was another prolonged silence and then one last time she shrugged, turning to lead the way out of the building.

"Suzaku said you were his best friend, and Suzaku was a good guy. Mostly. Dumb, but good. Jeremiah thinks you're alright too."

She began to walk off and Lelouch scoffed to himself before following after her, Jeremiah at his heels.

"You're extending me benefit of the doubt after all I've done?" Lelouch chuckled slightly, a memory of something someone once told him coming to mind. "Suzaku may have been a _little_ more right than I gave him credit for. Perhaps there really was always some good to be found in the world - even in Britannia."

LLLLLLLLLLLL

The entire morgue staff knew Jeremiah and Anya were there only a minute after they arrived, for gossip flew quickly of those famous Britannian knights who found themselves on opposite sides of a war, coming in with a last-minute delivery for the day, and a rather unusual delivery at that. Some men in army uniform marched in carrying a long, body-length bag and walked it past the receptionist straight to one of the operating rooms without a word, the two knights following the lesser soldiers just as silently. They left immediately after, but this time Jeremiah and Anya didn't join them. Before anyone had the chance to even wonder where they'd disappeared to though, they were already back through the hall and on their way out, and they were not alone.

Terrifyingly, a man in white robes stained red was with them. His hair was black and messy as if he'd just gotten up from bed, and his eyes were piercing, glowing crimson. The receptionist didn't seem to notice, staring blankly forward as she had since Jeremiah and Anya first arrived, but one doctor was passing by as the now trio approached the outer door, and she gasped.

"L-l-l-le-le-...!" she stuttered in fear. "But you... It was on the news!"

Lelouch spun to meet her gaze, power burning in his eyes, and he spat.

 **"Forget that you saw us."**

"Uh..." The doctor's eyes glazed over, rings of orange appearing around her irises. "Okay, no problem."

Without another word Lelouch, Jeremiah, and Anya hurried out of the building to avoid being seen again, being met with the late evening air of Angels. The sun was only beginning to set and through its last rays of the day it cast an orange light over the cityscape below, retreating under the lengthening shadow of night. They began walking, Jeremiah taking the lead.

"As you planned, m'lord," he said, approaching the car park without slowing, "a van was waiting to pick you up after your flight from Japan. Anya and I came with it when you were dropped off here."

Lelouch nodded.

"By now it could be an hour away. We'll have to find another vehicle."

"We could catch a cab," Anya offered. "Use magic on the driver and he won't even care you're supposed to be dead."

Jeremiah approached a car and looked it over, Lelouch and Anya stopping behind him. It was sleek and black, and a streak of silver was painted from bonnet to boot. It was newly washed, not a speck of dirt on its gleaming, polished exterior, and Jeremiah raised a hand.

"That won't be necessary." A golden blade slid out from the top of the cyborg's wrist and he stabbed it into the car's locking mechanism, twisting it like a key then retracting in once more. He placed his fingers on the door's handle and pulled and the portal opened without difficulty. "Get in."

Anya hummed quietly in surprise and did as she was bade, opening the back passenger door without trouble and scrambling in. Lelouch raised a brow and smirked, stepping round to shotgun position and doing the same while Jeremiah got into the driver's seat, closing the door behind him.

Safely inside, Jeremiah's mask opened, allowing the glowing green of his circuited bionic left eye to show, and he reached down to place his hands around the steering wheel's trunk. He tugged, exerting only a small effort with his mechanical augmentations but managing to rip the device off completely, revealing a tangle of wires.

"The farm is only a ten hour drive from Angels," he confirmed, tearing one wire before him in half. He reached under his sleeve and pulled out a thin cord, tying the now severed wire around it and touching its exposed filament to the cord's. The car barked. "We'll make the trip in five."

Jeremiah shifted the car from PARK and it growled to life, its lights turning on and its engine revving, and barely a moment later it shot forward, turning out onto the street and leaving the morgue behind.

LLLLLLLLLLLL

It was deep into the night when the headlights of the teams's stolen car fell upon the safehouse, coming to a stop just outside its front door, and Lelouch, Anya, and Jeremiah stepped out. True to his word, Jeremiah had driven them there astoundingly quick, manipulating the stolen vehicle with his mind alone, taking turns and passing other cars with machine precision at outrageous speeds. They'd passed the five hours of travelling in silence, though Anya's belly gurgled quite loudly after a while, hunger finally setting in. In all the chaos they'd entirely forgotten they hadn't eaten since before the big execution, now more than a day ago, almost two.

The safehouse was a large home, painted white and blue, surrounded by acres of fertile ground and lines upon lines of orangetrees, far removed from civilization. As Lelouch said, Jeremiah had worked for him during his dark reign as Emperor and would no doubt come under fire for the terrible crimes he'd carried out under imperial orders. Sayoko had the excuse of being forced to join Lelouch, and was imprisoned after she "betrayed" him to the Black Knights, but still the Black King took no chances, and he recommended she go into hiding as well, if only for a time.

The plan had been simple enough. While his body was being passed between teams of geassed helpers, Jeremiah would skulk off as the crowd cheered his master's death. Sayoko and her fellow prisoners were to be broken out of Lelouch's jail soon after, and not staying for pleasantries she was to meet up with the cyborg knight to take a second plane back across the ocean to Britannia, en route directly for the farm. They'd decided on this aspect of Zero Requiem together, and Lelouch had prepared everything in secret, setting the duo up to potentially hide out in peace for years.

Now though, two more people were added into the mix, Anya and Lelouch himself, and it was still to be seen if that would change anything moving forward.

The team got out of the car, closing their doors behind them, and Anya looked up at the two-storey home with dull appreciation.

"Nice place," she said amid a yawn.

Jeremiah spared her a glance and nodded proudly.

"It truly is. Are you going to be staying with us tonight, Sir Alstreim?"

"Mm..." She considered for a moment then placed a hand over her growling stomach and remembered she was still wearing a straightjacket. "Yeah."

Before any of them could enter, the house's front door opened, a woman with green hair and flashing gold eyes walking out to greet them.

"Lelouch..."

"C.C.?" he wondered back. "What are you doing here?"

A tear welled up in C.C.'s eye as she stepped out and threw her arms around her accomplice, letting it trail down her joyous smile, followed by another.

"You're alright! I wasn't sure at first, but when I didn't feel our Contract end I thought there might be hope..."

She squeezed the king tighter and another woman appeared at the door behind her, Sayoko, eyes wide that her lord yet lived.

"Lelouch-sama...!"

"Hello, Sayoko," he gasped out beneath C.C.'s grip. "It seems my time hasn't come just yet after all."

"But how...?"

Finally C.C. released her truest friend, and after a second to catch his breath Lelouch raised his right palm, displaying the symbol there for all to see. His Code gave off a faint glow, and seeing it C.C. understood exactly why he was alive. Sayoko wasn't quite sure what the strange mark meant, though she'd noticed it before on C.C.'s forehead, and knowing her lord she simply accepted it as his answer. Somehow he was alive, having survived rebellions and war and death itself, and that was all she cared about.

"May I come inside?" Anya asked, reminding everyone she was there. Sayoko raised a brow and was about to ask why an enemy of Lelouch was with him now, only for Jeremiah to act first, giving the girl a pat on the shoulder and motioning for her to follow him.

"Please do, Sir Alstreim. We should have plenty of space for you to set up here for a while."

The cyborg passed by Sayoko with a smile, his fellow agent who'd fought and sacrificed for Lelouch, and she nodded slightly to him, receiving the confirmation she needed that Anya could be trusted. The pinkette didn't seem to have any ill intentions, nor any real thoughts to speak of given the blank look on her face, so the maid stepped aside to let her in, following after her and closing the door so C.C. and Lelouch could be alone outside.

Lelouch looked into C.C.'s golden eyes and she looked back into his, smoldering with red power. Lelouch still had Geass? Clearly there was a story behind this, but it didn't need to be told right then. There was a more pressing concern to address first.

"Well, Lelouch," C.C. wondered, almost hesitantly, "you're immortal now, just like your father and uncle before you. I'm sure you're mortified you didn't predict such an end to your grand scheme."

Lelouch didn't move, didn't react at all to C.C.'s attempt at banter, keeping his eyes centered on hers.

"It's true, I never asked for this. If anything I just wanted to die, to make it all end. I'm tired, C.C."

"So..." The immortal girl paused before she could finish her question, uncertain she wanted to hear Lelouch's answer. How funny, after centuries of watching others die, and even after witnessing him die once already, the thought of losing Lelouch now stirred her emotions more than ever. "Does that mean you're going to carry out the missing piece of Zero Requiem yourself? Are you going to finish what Suzaku started?"

Lelouch considered for a moment. He glanced down at his right palm, concentrating, tracing the lines of the mark engraved upon it with his eyes, over and over. He touched it to his chest, right over his heart, once pierced but now beating again as if nothing ever happened. He shut his eyes and answered slowly.

"Zero Requiem..." C.C. hung on his every word in front of him, her body tight and anxious and her mouth suddenly dry as she awaited his final decision. "Zero Requiem is my new Contract. I granted the Geass of Zero Requiem to everyone so that a bright future might come with my death. Who knows what'll happen though: War? Famine? Tyrancy the likes of which will put the Demon Emperor to shame? Perhaps. But whatever comes, it will be the world's choice. Zero Requiem is a clean slate for all, to do with as they wish."

Lelouch opened his eyes again, the glow of Geass receding ever so slightly from his gaze. He seemed at peace, and it made C.C. worry. He'd been at peace once before as well, right before he'd gone out to die at Zero's hands.

"And," she whispered to him, placing a hand to his cheek, "it's a clean slate for you as well."

Lelouch didn't answer right away, just stared into C.C.'s eyes, searching them for meaning. He touched a hand to her cold fingers and pulled them from his face and slowly began to nod.

"You're right. It is a clean slate. And Lelouch vi Britannia died to obtain it, killed by Zero, the saviour of all the world."

A thankful smile started on C.C.'s lips and she shifted her hand under Lelouch's grip, taking it solidly in hers, their eyes never wavering from each other.

"One should come to death smiling, right, L.L.?"

L.L. gave a sly grin and hummed his agreement.

"I couldn't say it better myself, C.C."

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	7. Entropy 6: (R1,5) Princess and Witch

**Entropy 6: (R1;5) The Princess and the Witch**

Kallen sat down in a huff.

There was nothing anyone could say to her outburst, no tactful way to approach her in such a hate-filled frame of mind. And it wasn't as if she was wrong to get angry either. It was entirely true that Suzaku had been naive, most the audience could agree on that much. But still...

"Don't you think you're being too harsh?" Cécile began after a period of silence. "Suzaku only wanted to do the right thing. His heart was in the right place!"

Kallen was about to respond, hate flaring in her gaze, but Tamaki beside her spoke up before she could.

"Like hell! What part of helping Britannia keep us down was doing the right thing!?"

"He said it clearly. Suzaku wouldn't support terrorism, even if the ones doing it were right. That's why he didn't join Lelouch - because terrorism is wrong!"

"I...!" Tamaki reeled back, momentarily at a loss for words. Kallen picked up for him.

"Yeah, so what? Everyone knows terrorism is bad, but we weren't terrorists. The Black Knights were a rebel ARMY!"

Lloyd let a mischievous grin slide onto his lips and offered a thought.

"But by that point the Black Knights weren't formed yet, so what initial impression other than 'terrorist' could Suzaku have had of Zero? Not wanting to associate with him seems pretty logical to me."

"Lelouch was _never_ a terrorist!" Kallen wasn't having it. There was no way she was going to budge on this issue. "He raised us up and gave us the power to fight! And he saved Suzaku's life! He proved to him he was honourable!"

"But his methods weren't," Cécile corrected, playing devil's advocate. "Assassinating Clovis and using his Geass to get what he wanted was hardly honourable."

"What other option did Lelouch have? What other option did _any_ of us fighting Britannia have!?"

Milly dared speak.

"But, Kallen, you really were terrorists before Lelouch became Zero. I don't know what I would have done in his situation, but I can see why Suzaku wouldn't want to join you."

"Milly..." Kallen relented slightly.

"And," Cécile began again, continuing her defense of Suzaku's actions, "Suzaku didn't want to be a terrorist either. He thought it would be better to repair relations between Japanese and Britannians than divide them even more with violence. Can you honestly say Lelouch's tactics were better than a nonviolent solution?"

"Chivalry demands nobility in all things." Gino spoke up, consternation in his tone. He didn't sound like he fully agreed with his own words. "Even if Lelouch was beyond cool, I'm honour-bound by the Knightly Code to side with Suzaku. His approach was pure of heart while Lelouch resorted to roguish insurgency. Suzaku had the moral highground - 'Any ends gained through contemptible means aren't worth anything.'"

Xingke scoffed.

"And any ends gained through spineless means aren't worth anything, either. My country is proof of that. If the people hadn't risen up with violence then the corrupt Eunuchs would never have been brought to justice."

"No!" Tianzi's declaration caused Xingke to jump in surprise. "Hurting people only makes things worse. If you want everyone to be happy then hurting them won't help. The harder you would try to bring happiness the more people you would hurt, then nobody would be happy!"

"Empress, I'm afraid it's not that simple."

"No. It's wrong!"

Tohdoh lowered his head slightly and furrowed his brow.

"It is the will to fight that must be noble, not the methods by which one carries out that will."

Ohgi's jaw dropped, appalled at what the senior officer was saying.

"And you think Lelouch's will to fight was noble? Look at what happened because of him! He attacked everyone - used his Geass power to turn everyone against each other!"

"Ohgi," Kallen began slowly, venom in her every word, "are you saying you're siding with Suzaku?"

"Maybe I am!" He looked to Villetta and took her hand in his. "In the end the Black Knights solved our differences with Britannia through treaties, not violence. Maybe if we'd chosen the peaceful route from the start then Lelouch the Demon would never have gained power!"

Kaguya raised a brow, perplexed at the Japanese Prime Minister.

"But that was only after the Black Knights grew enough to present a serious threat to Britannia. Diplomacy didn't exist before that point."

Something about Kaguya's words struck a chord with Gino, and he frowned in thought.

"But Suzaku's plan was actually working. He became a Knight of the Round by helping Britannia, a position where he could actually make the changes he wanted to see. Peacefully! He did that by going through the system, just like he said. How can you argue with those results?"

"No. Suzaku's plan was not working," Zero said quickly, not letting anyone get the chance to interrupt. "He progressed within the Britannian system, but not honestly, as he initially intended. He learned that only power can change the world."

Kallen scowled.

"Yeah, you would say that, wouldn't you? Like you ever cared about the powerless and not just yourself."

"Of course he cared for others!" Cécile shot back. "He said it right there in that last scene. He went back to his trial to be wrongly found guilty of killing Clovis, all so Britannia wouldn't punish all Japanese in retaliation! If anything, he cared for others too much and not for himself at all!"

Rivalz shook his head.

"I'm starting to get mixed up. Are we talking about Suzaku? Or Zero? I mean, not the Lelouch Zero, but the new Zero. I mean... I can't keep track of all this."

"Might I venture a thought?" Every head turned at Jeremiah's powerful voice. "I believe Suzaku was right. However, even as I say that, I believe Lelouch was correct as well."

To the first statement there was a small murmur of confusion from the audience, punctuated by outbursts from a few of its more vitriolic members. To the second statement came a thunderclap of outraged and confounded responses. The cyborg clarifed.

"Suzaku wanted to change Britannia from the bottom-up. Lelouch wanted to destroy Britannia from the top-down. What I believe is, quite simply, that they each held a single piece of a greater solution to Britannia's tyranny. They were both right, but only in part.

"Destroying Britannia was indeed the proper course, but its total defeat would only result in more atrocities. Changing Britannia was also correct, though could never be done by someone without power and without a receptive populace."

Cornelia quirked a perceptive brow.

"Destroy Britannia's corrupt rulers through war while also supplying a populist shift in attitudes..."

Milly nodded along.

"Both Lelouch's plan and Suzaku's plan at the time same."

"And then," Kaguya considered, "when the top eschalon of power is empty, step in and make the positive shifts necessary for rebuilding."

Tohdoh's eyes widened.

"Lelouch's top-down approach tempered by Suzaku's ideal of peaceful change."

It was quite the revelation, and for almost a minute contemplative silence reigned. Zero sat in dumbstruck awe. That he and Lelouch could have both been right in equal measure at the same time was a sobering thought, one that he'd never considered before and now consumed him. Of course the best solution to Britannia's imperialism was to join forces! From the very start they constantly attempted to reach out to each other, all along unconsciously knowing the path to true peace. After all, there was nothing Suzaku and Lelouch couldn't do when they worked together.

After a time, Lloyd hummed and shrugged.

"What if, what if. The perfect solution is always so clear after the fact, isn't it? And in the moment people may be too stubborn to make that compromise anyway!"

"That's right," Ohgi growled. "There's no use getting hung up over what could have been. Besides, Lelouch and Suzaku seem innocent in this recording, but it doesn't change the fact they ended up as power-hungry monsters!"

Nunnally held back a frown and gave a noncomittal response, more for herself than anyone else, raising the remote and pressing the PLAY button.

"I think we're all beginning to have our doubts about that."

 **Behind his mask Zero was outraged. Suzaku - that fool! Was he so eager to throw his life away? And for what? To keep Britannia from cracking down on the Japanese? How could he be so suicidally selfless?**

 **Or, the question didn't occur to him, could Suzaku's apparent altruism in fact be selfishness in disguise?**

If he hadn't been so concerned that his friend was walking back to the gallows of his own accord, Zero might have considered his own actions instead of just Suzaku's. But, as removed from that drama as she was, in a darkened theatre watching the curious scene unfold, Kaguya was able to do just that.

It was clear to her and everyone else that Zero, that Lelouch, had truly wanted to save Suzaku's life, to pay him back for what happened in Shinjuku when he took a bullet for disobeying orders. It was Zero's driving, and apparently only, motivation that night. However, getting Suzaku on his side and away from the enemy would only be the immediate result.

With her keen wit and sense for politics, naturally greater and additionally more honed than any other in the room, Kaguya could see - see as clearly as if it had actually happened and not been left among the infinite what-ifs of the world. Just as Suzaku said, if he fled from his trial Britannia could use the incident as an excuse to persecute other Elevens. And under such renewed predations at Britannia's hand, the fires of rebellion might ignite more brightly than ever before within the Japanese, drawing them quite conveniently into Zero's waiting fingers.

Of course, he didn't indicate that that result was part of his original plan, but Kaguya knew Zero - they'd been engaged for marriage, after all - and she knew he was always thinking far in advance. No single action was ever performed for its own sake with him. So, unless it was proven otherwise in an upcoming scene, Kaguya was convinced Zero had had additional motives for saving Suzaku.

It was ironic, actually, though the pieces were not yet in place for the audience to see it, not even Kaguya herself. Without realizing it, both Zero's and Suzaku's actions that night, of attempting a rescue and then turning himself back in anyway, respectively, were the results of simultaneously selfish and selfless intentions.

 **Back at Ashford Nunnally sat in the dark listening to a radio broadcast of Zero's grand debut, and at a rustle from behind her she turned her head.**

 **"Miss Sayoko?" she asked, unsure of who was there.**

 **From the shadows behind her appeared a figure, though it was not the maid as she expected. It was a woman, thin as could be and garbed in white, locks of long green hair falling gently over her shoulders.**

There was a collective gawk from the audience at seeing C.C. alive, even though they were all aware she'd somehow survived being shot in the face. Sayoko and Jeremiah were slightly disturbed by the image, their protective insticts kicking in at the strange woman entering Nunnally's home at the time, unbidden. Nunnally remained largely impassive, a frown on her face and her eyes narrowed in deep concentration, as if trying to solve a puzzle her in head. Rivalz sat in mild contemplation.

"Maybe she's not an alien," he said with a shrug. "I think the evidence really stacks up: She's clearly a ghost."

From across the aisle Kallen glanced at her friend with an incredulous stare, but Rivalz didn't waver. He furrowed his brow and pointed to the screen, now black, indicating the episode was at an end, and defended his new conclusion.

"Look - it's right there - she just _phased_ in, just _appeared_ out of the shadows! Like a phantom!"

Cornelia crossed her arms and sat back, exasperated with the boy.

"Are we really having this conversation again?"

"Oh, come on." Rivalz wasn't finished yet. "It explains everything! Like, how did she survive getting shot? She's a ghost! Good luck trying to shoot her when she's already dead!"

Tamaki seemed to actually consider the idea.

"I dunno about that, kid. Last I checked, ghosts don't bleed, and there was a lotta blood coming outta her head when she got shot in the first episode. I think it makes more sense that she's a zombie, just like I said."

"She couldn't be zombie," Milly quickly replied on her friend's behalf, "the gunshot would've destroyed her brain!"

"Oh yeah..." Tamaki scratched at his goatee. "I still don't think she's a ghost though."

"Vampire?" Gino suggested.

"No, she was awake in the day." Lloyd shook his head. "Werewolf?"

Cécile frowned to the mad scientist.

"I hope you're not being serious."

Kallen crossed her arms and muttered her own guess under her breath.

"Succubus bitch..."

"Oh!" A new idea occured to Milly. "What if she's immortal? Like Dorian Grey!"

She was met with a thoughtful look from Rivalz.

"Okay. But how's Geass involved with that?"

Anya, in the back row, rolled her eyes. This was all pretty entertaining, watching everyone else argue and muddle about in their wild mass guessing, but if this one DVD still had several hours left on it then they could be doing this for days. She wasn't so sure about Jeremiah or Sayoko, but she was inclined to agree with C.C., the audience was comprised of mostly stupid, silly people, and it wouldn't be long before their squabbling began to grate on her nerves.

"C.C.'s an immortal witch," the pinkette said loudly, hoping to end the pointless debate.

Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect, Rakshata being the first to respond, laughing as she chided the younger girl.

"That's ridiculous! Such a convoluted solution couldn't be the case. Instead, have you considered that she's some kind of science experiment gone wrong?

"C.C. was being researched by Clovis and his team, and there's a picture of her from a hundred years ago on a battlefield. The truly most obvious explanation is she's a failed supersoldier created by Britannia to try to win the Great War! That explains her regenerative ability, her apparent invisibility, and, in terms you would all understand, her telepathy. Not only that, she can somehow awaken others' minds and imbue them with a portion of her own power in the form of Geass."

There was astonished silence from the audience and a slightly exasperated groan from Anya, and after a moment Rivalz finally conceded.

"A supersoldier? Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

 **The next episode began with a scene of white sand under a clear sky. Then, thunderclaps of cannonfire as a unit of Bamides opened fire. The Bamides were huge, bipedal command tanks designed by the Middle Eastern Federation, a group of countries conquered by Britannia over the course of 2017, then reconquered again for the United States of China under Zero's watchful eye, and were directly inspired to defend against Britannia's humanoid autonomous armoured knights.**

 **The shells echoed across the dunes and landed amidst an enemy line of tanks, Britannian, tearing into the shorter ranged vehicles and throwing up clouds of grey smoke.**

Lloyd let out a loud laugh, highly amused.

"What a way start an episode - with guns blazing!"

He was quickly shushed, but Cornelia and Guilford exchanged a look, remembering fondly what was coming next.

 **From the smoke emerged a team of dark purple knightmares, Gloucesters, armed with rifle, cannon, and lance, and they weaved around the incoming fire with chilling ease.**

 **Among their number was Andreas Darlton, and he grinned with satisfaction as he closed with the enemy, raising his frame's cannon to fire point-blank at a Bamide's undefended belly.**

 **"Shoddy, oversized imitation knightmares!" he bellowed in his cockpit with a mix of delight and distaste, quickly being joined by Guilford, adding his own thoughts almost as counterbalance to the general's remark.**

 **"They would have been wise to surrender from the start."**

"Oh, Darlton..." Cornelia lowered her head in a moment of quiet lament, and Guilford laid a hesitant hand atop her own, earning an appreciative look from the warrior princess. She nodded to her lover, face tight, feeling somewhat deflated despite the exciting action onscreen. "I wish he could be here, Guilford."

The knight nodded back.

"I as well, Princess. I as well."

 **One by one, the Bamides were felled, cruelly quick, as befitting Cornelia's Royal Guard, and to complete their humiliation a great explosion erupted behind their line. Cornelia had penetrated their forces entirely and personally annihilated their base, and in her gold-trimmed knightmare, standing atop twisted metal and surrounded by dancing fire, she glowered down at her dying foes with disdain.**

Those originally aligned with the Black Knights scowled at Cornelia, Tamaki and Kallen the most upset by the princess's violence, while Xingke and Tohdoh merely shared a grunt of disapproval and watched on. Nobody said a word though. Her actions thus far onscreen were limited and weren't too heinous, but they brought up bad memories and were only a prelude for what was to come.

Gino wasn't quite so serious about it.

"Way to go, Princess. I guess a flair for the dramatic runs in the family?"

Cornelia regarded the Knight with an offended glare.

"I don't follow."

"You know, like Lelouch when he rescued Suzaku! Or like Prince Clovis. You were just standing there like a badass."

"I..." The warrior woman was temporarily at a loss for words. "Should I thank you for such a comment?"

"If you wish. But I was really just wondering. What d'you think, Nina?"

Gino peered to the bespectacled girl beside him, lost in her own thoughts, hoping for an answer. She eventually gave one, wistful and breathy.

"I think so too. Even Princess Euphemia..."

"You can say that again," Tamaki cut in with a laugh, thinking himself quite clever. "Ya can't be any more dramatic than gunning people down in the streets."

"Imbecile!" As Cornelia rose in her seat he realized he really shouldn't have said anything. "Do you have jelly for brains? Euphemia was put under Lelouch's spell! He ordered her to kill those people!"

Tamaki stood up as well.

"I knew that! And don't call me stupid, you royal windbag!"

Gino, Milly, and Rivalz exchanged disturbed glances, and Tianzi looked to Xingke beside her questioningly. This was the first they'd ever heard about Lelouch's involvement with the Princess Massacre incident. They were about to say something, ask if that damning accusation was true, but they didn't get the chance. Before another word was said, Kallen reached out a hand and pulled Tamaki back down, not particularly in the mood for another argument. Cornelia was still standing though, Guilford not daring to temper his lady's rage, and Nunnally decided to intervene once more.

"Now is not the time to speak of that. And I'd prefer we not let our feelings control our judgements. Sister,-" she addressed Cornelia softly, "-we'll continue watching and see what truly happened."

Her words seemed to strike her sister, and at last the Witch of Britannia stood down. Deference was paid the Britannian Empress, and after a few moments everyone had calmed down and refocussed on the screen. Throughout the short talk of Euphemia Zero was particularly silent.

 **It was much later that night, after Zero rescued Suzaku, that Lelouch returned home in a slump. He'd expected to be greeted by darkness and solitude, but what he found instead was every light in the dining room on and two girls sitting at its table folding origami. One shouldn't have been up so late. The other shouldn't have been alive.**

 **C.C. glanced up immediately at his entrance.**

 **"Welcome home, Lelouch."**

 **The look on his face was priceless. For one of the rare times in his life, Lelouch was struck dumb by what he saw, an embarrassingly private look of surprise matting his features where usually was the face of a** **cold and brooding prince.**

 **"Thank goodness!" Nunnally was quick to address Lelouch once C.C. stopped speaking.**

As she began to prattle onscreen, the Nunnally of the present, eyes wide in awe of what she had not seen that night, felt something inside her. She brought up a hand to her mouth, stifling a laugh. Twenty whole seconds passed as Nunnally's former self spoke, and Lelouch didn't move a muscle, his face frozen into a humourously grotesque expression of utter bafflement.

Others in the audience weren't quite so reticent to let out a giggle or two, even the lingering ill feelings from the shouting matches they'd shared just minutes before not keeping them from enjoying Lelouch's predicament. It was heartwarming, but Nunnally had a feeling such an end to hostilities between them wouldn't last.

 **"Your friend goes by such an unusual name," the younger Nunnally laughed. "Only her initials!"**

"Ooooh," Tamaki nodded along. "I always thought her name was Cici."

Kallen blinked at her friend beside her.

"What kind of name is Cici?"

"How am I supposed to know? English ain't even my first language!"

"I wonder..." Nina put a finger to her temple, striking a contemplative pose. "What do you think her initials stand for?"

"Eh?" Rivalz was a little confused. "Didn't you tell me once that you worked with her?"

"Well, yes, but, I only saw her in passing, and that was only for a little while when I was in Lel-..." The girl caught herself just in time. "I mean, while I was in the Demon's employment."

"Right," Lloyd quickly added. "And Cécile and I never found out either. How about you, Black Knights?"

Tohdoh frowned, and Chiba, watching his expression for guidance, spoke up.

"What does it even matter what her name is?"

"Perhaps," Kaguya hummed to herself, "that's a question we'll have to wait on for an answer."

 **"I was just wondering," Nunnally continued unhindered, blind to the discomfort Lelouch obviously was feeling at C.C.'s presence, "is C.C. your girlfriend?"**

 **"Uh..." The prince still couldn't even process the fact C.C. was alive in the first place, nevermind figure out an answer for his sister.**

 **C.C. showed no interest in the conversation, answering blandly while focussing on the paper crane she was folding.**

 **"He made a promise about our future together." She cast an almost menacing look at Lelouch, veiled with indifference. "Right?"**

 **While Lelouch grew even more consternated, Nunnally gasped at the scandalous statement. Could it be they were engaged for marriage? Oh, what a thought that was! Shirley would be so disappointed.**

The scene hadn't been going on for long, but the audience was already lost in a giggling fit, even Xingke sharing a small laugh at Lelouch's expense with Tianzi, though some wet blankets were interspersed among them, Cornelia, Chiba and Tohdoh, and Kallen being the most reserved. Cornelia was simply determined to be in a bad mood, while Tohdoh was silently mulling over the facts in his head, trying to make sense of the unflappable Lelouch's less than stoic response onscreen. Kallen was eyeing C.C. with resent, arms crossed.

'What a bitch.'

 **"No!" Lelouch was quick to shoot down the idea he was romantically involved with the somehow living dead girl. "No, that wasn't what she was talking about. It's like, uh... She's kidding around."**

 **The greenette let out an infuriatingly calm reply, a little too quick.**

 **"No, I'm not."**

Kallen's frown deepened.

'What a bitch!'

 **Flabbergasted, Lelouch stepped forward, ignoring Nunnally's worrying about his future with C.C. and took a cup of tea from the table, throwing it to the floor.**

 **"Oh, C.C., look what you've done. You're soaking wet!" As he took firm grip of C.C.'s arm and pulled her from her seat, there was a quick cut to Lelouch's eyes. To say they were filled with murder was an understatement. "C'mon, let's get you to the bathrom and into a dry change of clothes."**

Seeing the trick he'd played on her, Nunnally put on a cute frown and pouted as almost everyone else giggled a little more. He actually took advantage of her blindness!? If she wasn't still sad he was gone, she might've been a little upset and wanted to have a word with him.

 **Once in private, Lelouch dropped the easy tone he used around his sister and grew deadly cold. He demanded C.C.'s name. She smirked at him and replied quite simply that it was C.C. Lelouch wasn't having it.**

 **"That's not what I meant! Why aren't you-"**

 **"-supposed to be dead?" C.C. interrupted, just as snide as before.**

The way the exchange onscreen was going only evoked bad memories in Kallen, and she felt the same irksome feeling she so often used to get from C.C. boil up within her.

'What a _bitch_!'

 **C.C. confirmed that she'd given Lelouch Geass, much to his lack of relief. Even so, he expressed his gratitude, finally feeling slightly more in control of the conversation. Geass sped up his schedule, after all: The quest to obliterate Britannia.**

"He's really serious about it..." Gino murmured to himself. "He wanted to fight Britannia."

The giggles had mostly quieted down by now, and aside from Kallen, stewing in her seat, and Gino, trying and failing to understand how Lelouch got from the plan to destroy Britannia to ruling it and becoming a diabolical supervillain, most everyone was quietly fixated on the screen. Rivalz checked back and forth.

"So... Am I the only one who notices she's wearing a straightjacket? Yes? Just me, then? Okay..."

Villetta gaped.

"And now she's undressing..."

"I knew she was Zero's mistress!" Tamaki grinned in triumph. "This is gonna be great!"

Xingke once again placed a hand over Tianzi's eyes while Kaguya's grew large and star-filled, a devious smile on her lips. Kallen reeled back, getting ready to explode at what was about to happen...

 **The audience needn't have gotten their hopes up. C.C. explained that only a small faction of the Britannian military was looking for her then slipped into Lelouch's bed, pulling the covers up to hide any naughty bits.**

 **"WHAT!?" Lelouch began losing his cool again. He clearly still had a long way to go before he fully grew into the role of unfeeling manipulator. "You expect to stay here!?"**

 **"A gentleman would sleep on the floor."**

"How dare she!" For the first time, Chiba spoke up on Lelouch's behalf, outraged at C.C.'s behaviour. She didn't like Lelouch, that much she was certain about, but the way C.C. was treating him, her unasked and _unwilling_ benefactor, was revolting to her. "That impudent...! Tohdoh-san, how _dare_ she!?"

Tohdoh simply let out a frustrated grunt. Oddly, it was Cornelia who gave her growled agreement, still feeling enough familial attachment to Lelouch to grant him at least this much of her sympathy.

"Of all the ungrateful...!"

"Ah," Rakshata began assessing the scene, not listening to Chiba or Cornelia, "it's one of _those_ kinds of relationships."

Tamaki raised a brow, once again slightly confused, and ventured a guess.

"You mean they're gonna hate f- ?"

Kallen quickly interrupted before her friend could finish, her face red, and not just with fury.

"Don't go there, Tamaki!"

 **"Don't joke around." Lelouch wasn't about to give up just yet. Placating him, C.C. riposted.**

 **"My being caught would cause trouble for you, too."**

 **"It's dangerous to stay together."**

 **"If I wander the streets they'll find me."**

 **"This isn't about you. It's my situation."**

 **C.C. frowned and rolled over in bed, away from Lelouch.**

 **"I hate stubborness."**

"Aaah, gip," Tamaki groaned loudly as he realized any chance of fooly cooly had just disappeared, quickly joined by a much quieter curse from Kaguya, mimicking his crude phrasing.

"Double gip."

Kallen meanwhile let out a small breath of relief.

 **"You sure take things casually don't you?" Lelouch tried one last time to get answers out of the mysterious C.C. "How did you manage to survive before this? What did you do before now? And what's the deal with that so-called contract you spo-"**

 **"Good night, Lelouch."**

"Mm," Nunnally hesitated to speak, halfway addressing everyone else. "I find it somewhat difficult to like Miss C.C. so much, now. She's very..."

"Bitchy?" Kallen offered quite helpfully. "You don't even know."

Ohgi perked up his ears and found a reason to interject.

"Now, Kallen, you're being a bit unfair."

"Why should I be fair? It's all C.C.'s fault Lelouch got Geass - or did you forget? She's the real person to blame for the Demon Emperor! So, you tell me, Ohgi. Why _should_ I be fair?"

Zero turned up his mask's sythesizer volume and cleared his throat a bit, the sound quite loud enough to catch everyone's attention.

"I think we can all safely decide for now that we don't like C.C." In a strange twist, nobody interrupted him. "Perhaps as we learn more of her, our opinion will change?"

Kallen rolled her eyes and relaxed, leaning her head back against her hands.

"Doubtful."

 **In the days following Zero's first appearance, although not joining together to combat Britannia's rule, multiple renewed attacks of terrorism were committed by Japanese resistence groups, inspired by the masked man's bold stand against the Empire. What's more, the scandal of "Orange" trailed Margrave Jeremiah wherever he went, putting a tremendous rift of distrust between him and his fellow soldiers. What he'd done, nobody knew, but the prevailing assumption was that he was somehow in league with Zero.**

 **"So," C.C. wondered to Lelouch one morning, sitting on his bed in nothing but a white dress shirt and munching on a slice of pizza, "what did Orange turn out to be anyway?"**

 **It was frustrating that C.C. asked so many questions yet refused to answer any herself, even important ones as to the nature of Geass, or how she'd survived death, but Lelouch gave in eventually.**

 **"There is no Orange. It's something I made up."**

"Um..." Guilford looked to Jeremiah again, so changed from how he once was - stronger, less severe, content, and wearing such a strange mask over his eye - and attempted to apologize once again. "Jeremiah, really, I know now's not the time, but..."

"Think nothing of it, Lord Guilford," came Jeremiah's easy reply and a wave of the hand to dismiss the topic. "From here out, I don't want to hear a single apology for what happened to me because of Orange. Everything that I am now, I owe to that word. Everything that I have-" he smiled at the thought of Sayoko beside him, "is because of that single word. If given the choice, I wouldn't undo the disgrace it brought me; not for all the rule of the world. Mine is an honour even greater."

After a moment Guilford gave a quick nod, from one man to another, ending the issue once and for all, and everyone continued to observe the show in silence. Then Rakshata was struck by a thought.

"I've been wondering, actually, Jeremiah why you joined Lelouch. We know he used his power on you once, which means he couldn't do it to you again. So, if being controlled by Geass isn't the reason, what is?"

The cyborg didn't reply, only smiling and returning his gaze toward the screen.

 **"The world is destined to descend into greater chaos."**

Gino grinned to himself, quite amused with Lelouch's prophetic statement, or, more accurately, he reasoned, promise.

"Epic one-liner."

 **When Suzaku's trial for the murder of Prince Clovis finally came to an end, after much deliberation he was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Although he should have been happy with the verdict, as Suzaku stepped outside from the courthouse he was only perplexed. It didn't make sense to him. Even with Zero admitting to the killing, he was certain it wouldn't be enough to overturn the case against him. How had he gotten a fair trial?**

 **He didn't have time to think about it as a voice, a girl's, came from above him.**

 **"Out of the way, please!"**

Cornelia's face dropped.

"No."

 **"Look out below!"**

 **The girl, young and beautiful with wavy, long pink hair, dropped, seemingly from the sky, straight into Suzaku's bewildered arms.**

"What." To anyone paying attention, it would seem as though Cornelia's brain had short-circuited.

 **"Is there something wrong?" Suzaku asked the strange girl dumbly after a brief exchange of greetings.**

 **Contrary to all expectations, the girl smiled wide and replied.**

 **"Yes!" she said cheerfully. "There is something wrong!"**

"Pff-WHAT?!" Lloyd and a few others exploded into laughing disbelief.

 **"The truth is," she continued, "bad guys are chasing me. So, considering the circumstances, could you help me, please?"**

Tianzi gasped and took hold of Xingke's arm, expecting a suspenseful chase sequence to start. Cornelia meanwhile was still trying to get her head around the bizarre way in which Euphemia and Suzaku met for the very first time. Zero lowered his sight away from the screen.

 **Among those who lost their trust in Jeremiah due to Orange, Kewell and other Purebloods too, were the most upset. Their faction of the Area 11 Colonial Army was discredited because he gave in to Zero's demands, and now the Purists were a laughingstock around the entire Tokyo Settlement. Something drastic had to be done to rectify such a situation.**

 **Then, before the audience could dwell on Kewell's plan to 'remove' Jeremiah, the scene cut back to Suzaku and Euphemia, walking about the city almost like a couple on a date. The undercover princess introduced herself as Yuffie, and didn't even wait to hear Suzaku's name. He was like a celebrity, after all. She already knew who he was. But, then, he knew something about her as well.**

 **"You lied before," he said, looking away dramatically. "There's no one chasing you at all. Right?"**

Tianzi let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, relieved that they weren't going to get chased.

 **"Meeoooww!" was Yuffie's reply.**

"What."

This time Cornelia wasn't the only one to have such a reaction to the non sequitur.

 **Yuffie had come across a stray cat and ignored Suzaku, instead kneeling before it and trying, and seemingly succeeding, to communicate with it.**

 **"Meow meoowww. Oh, does the kitty's paw hurt?"**

"Arthur!" Every member of the original Ashford Student Council exclaimed at once, recognizing the ornery feline instantly.

Ohgi blinked at Kallen.

"You know that cat?"

"Yeah," she nodded back in disbelief. "He was our mascot at school. We never knew where he came from, but... I guess we do now."

 **"Meow, meow, meoowww! Meow meow?"**

 **Letting Yuffie's lie slide, at least for a while, Suzaku went to say hello to her new friend. Arthur took one look at him, thought for a second, then deliberately bit his outstrectched finger.**

Seeing this, Zero instictively balled his fingers into protective fists. Even after a year not seeing him, he still couldn't shake the reflex. Nunnally looked on curiously.

"So that's Arthur?"

 **Eventually Arthur scampered off and Yuffie dragged Suzaku with her, though he didn't protest much, on a fun trip around the city.**

"Ohhhhh..." Nina quietly whimpered in horror, the first glimmer of realization hitting her that Euphemia had been in love with another from the very start.

Unfortunately for her, Cornelia overheard the shy girl's lament and shot her an unnerved glance. Something about the sounds she was making at her sister onscreen made the normally powerful princess _very_ uncomfortable.

As for Zero, he'd returned his gaze to the screen, showing in bright colour the day he'd met Euphemia, as if some invisible force had been watching and recording every moment. By this point everyone had more or less gotten over the eeriness of seeing themselves and their actions caught on camera, but for a brief moment the feeling hit Zero again, harder than before. That, and a sinking feeling.

The video showed a montage of moments from Suzaku's date with Euphemia, and as it went on Zero felt long repressed emotions swell in him. Feelings of love. Of loss. She was radiant and youthful, he could see onscreen, clearer than even in his rose-tinted memories. Her light purple eyes shimmered with wonder and excitement, as if all the horrible things to come never would.

Zero knew this moment would come. The very second he saw himself onscreen he knew the whole ordeal of Lelouch's journey, and his, would be shown, and that meant Euphemia would be soon to appear as well. He thought he'd prepared himself, mentally, emotionally, for the sight of her, cheerful and very much alive, knowing how it all ended, but he couldn't stop himself from shuddering as his eyes grew teary behind his mask.

 _"Please don't cry, Suzaku."_ There was a voice - HER voice - whispering from the theatre speakers just above the melancholy tune playing for the montage. _"I am with you. Always."_

Zero turned his head back and forth rapidly, checking for the source of the voice, so serene and angelic, but there was no else there, just the others of the audience now glancing questioningly in his direction at his sudden movement. Had no one else heard it?

Composing himself once more, Zero returned his eyes to the screen, the dark emotion within him suddenly gone, replaced with a feeling of lightness, as if he were completely weightless. His tears had dried as well.

The others went back to viewing too, but Ohgi's gaze lingered on Zero. He'd reacted as if someone called out to him, just how he himself had reacted when he heard a ghostly voice over the speakers. Could it be that Zero was hearing things too?

 **The day went well between them, both Suzaku and Yuffie having a splendid time and learning much about each other. They were happy together, their personalities naturally in tune. Before the day was done though, Yuffie asked Suzaku to show her one more place. This time she wanted to go to Shinjuku.**

 **At Ashford, Lelouch was sitting by himself, ever by himself, checking the news on Suzaku on his laptop, always looking out for his friend, when Kallen hesitantly approached him.**

 **"Lelouch? D'you have a minute?"**

 **Lelouch looked up from his work to meet eyes with the redhead standing weakly before him, portraying her false self as a sickly teenager.**

 **"Mmhm. What is it?**

 **"About that phone call the other day?"**

 **She wanted to know about the call in the shower she'd received from Zero. In efforts to understand her new leader better, perhaps caught by 'Zero Fever,' like many other girls her age who would fall to it over the next couple years, Kallen asked if Lelouch could find out Zero's caller ID. Maybe if she had that she could find out his true identity! And then...**

 **Lelouch fed her a lie.**

 **"It was a school phone, so I'm not sure w-...!"**

 **C.C. was behind Kallen, prancing about as if she wasn't a government secret whose leaders would purge entire districts to** _ **keep**_ **secret. Kallen followed Lelouch's eyes and turned to see what he was looking at, and in the heat of the moment, desperate to keep his Contractor from public sight, Lelouch took hold of Kallen's face and turned it to face him.**

Several members of the audience choked back a laugh at the embarrassed blush on Kallen's face onscreen, and the even more embarrassed Kallen blushing in her seat. Anya didn't even try not to laugh, enjoying every second she was able to feel something deep inside.

"You were _so_ into him!"

"Was not!" Kallen shot back, a little too quickly and a little too loudly.

Gino slumped in his seat and turned to speak to Nina beside him, the closest person to confide in.

"Well, it looks like that's it for my chances with her."

Nina cautiously patted the Knight on the shoulder, a strange sense of camaraderie passing between them at knowing the ones they loved had, in her case, and would ever have, in his, eyes for someone else.

"Hey." Villetta blinked at the scene and turned her head in surprise as Ohgi whispered to her. "Do you know if this weird comedy stuff happened a lot?"

She shivered as traumatic flashbacks of her time as a gym teacher at Ashford passed before her eyes. Oh, horrors that no mortal should ever have to see or endure! Milly Ashford was truly an evil genuis to rival even Lelouch himself.

"Too much."

 **It was much later that day when Suzaku and Yuffie made it to Shinjuku, or what was left of it. It was a sad sight, pitiful really, ruined buildings only half-standing and makeshift shrines for the dead scattered among them.**

 **Elsewhere, Jeremiah was in his Sutherland, pursuing a supposed sighting of Zero. If all went well, he reasoned, he would claim the terrorist's life and regain his honour. Unbeknownst to him though, it was a setup, a plan made by Kewell and his flunkies to have him killed, coincidentally set to take place in Shinjuku. At the very least Jeremiah still had Villetta though, the buxom woman in her revealing G-Suit uncovering the plan from some of its conspirators before executing them with a cutlass.**

"Before you even say anything about my outfit," Villetta began, meeting eyes with Tamaki, now a row ahead of her, "just don't."

 **Luckily for her, Tamaki was too interested in what came next onscreen to pester the woman. Finally, for the first time Tamaki was getting a scene all to himself. Some Ashford students were taking pictures of Shinjuku and its wounds, and he and Minami and Yoshida were accosting them, angered that they were making light of the massacre the ghetto endured only days ago.**

 **Suzaku and Yuffie had been closeby, and wanting to keep the conflict from growing into outright violence Suzaku inserted himself between the two parties. Tamaki didn't like that. Not one bit. If it had been anyone else he may have stood down, but seeing Suzaku made his blood boil.**

"Stinkin' traitor!" Tamaki spat. "And he always beat me! I never got shot down in a knightmare except by him! And then he goes and beats me up in person too!? I wish he could be like C.C. and come back from the dead just so I could hit him! Just once!"

Zero spoke, addressing the angry man.

"If he were here, I'm sure he'd let you."

 **Once the danger had passed, the two Britannian schoolboys returned to their true selves, impudent, self-entitled brats, their personalities a product more of their affluence than their nationality, and they berated Suzaku. As an Honourary Britannian, why hadn't he protected them immediately? Why hadn't he killed Tamaki for stepping out of line as an Eleven?**

 **Yuffie took one step forward and slapped the insolent fools.**

"Hm!" Kallen hummed in consideration, as if surprised at her own thoughts.

She was met by a stare from Zero's blank, reflective mask.

"Is something wrong?" he wondered back, gentlemanly, just as Zero was supposed to be.

"I always thought Euphemia was just a puppet princess who couldn't think for herself." She nodded slightly, just enough so Zero understood she wasn't speaking to the mask, but the person behind it. "Maybe I was wrong."

 **Lelouch confirmed to C.C. what Rakshata had earlier surmised, that his Geass required direct eye contact and a host of other factors, and began to muse to her, almost soliloquizing the inner strife that was his thoughts.**

 **"Is it good to be strong?"**

 **In Shinjuku Suzaku was doing the same with Yuffie.**

 **"Is it bad to be weak? Back then, when I was ten, the world seemed like such a terribly sad place - a world without any hope at all."**

 **It cut back and forth, Lelouch and Suzaku, each with different words and meanings behind their statements, yet still saying the exact same thing.**

 **"Starvation."**

 **"Disease."**

 **"Filth," Lelouch growled. "Decay!"**

 **"Racism."**

 **"Constant war and terrorism!" The prince was growing angrier with every word, every new crime he believed the world guilty of.**

 **"Living in a neverending cycle of hate." Suzaku was growing more solemn with every word, every new sorrow he believed the world afflicted with.**

 **"Rats running in a wheel!"**

 **"The cycle must be broken. Somebody has to do it!"**

 **C.C. appraised Lelouch's thoughts, speaking dismissively.**

 **"How idealistic."**

 **"Of course," Suzaku continued, "it's doubtful that the one who does it will make all the bad things go away."**

 **"I'm not that arrogant," Lelouch finished Suzaku's thought. "And so..."**

 **"No one should lose more of the people they love. At least, a world without war..."**

The audience was silent, even Zero transfixed at what he was seeing. All along, he and Lelouch were thinking the same thing. It was just as Jeremiah said. Both of them had been right, and both of their approaches may have worked in theory, but for the first time Zero realized what the difference was. Geass.

They both knew what had to be done to achieve the kinder, gentler world they sought, but such a result was only possible through Geass. Because Lelouch had the power, it was he whose plan was destined to succeed, and Suzaku who should have joined him. And if the roles had been reversed, if Suzaku had been given Geass instead, then it would have been Lelouch who would've been best served by joining him.

It was a moment of rare clarity for Zero, when he truly felt connected to Lelouch, like they were one being of single mind. What had come between them? What had ruined their friendship so? Why were they, who always wanted the same thing, destined to fight and hate each other, even to the very end? He'd felt better before, but once again Zero couldn't help but blink as splashes of tears dripped down his cheeks and stained his fabric mask, covering what wasn't concealed by his helmet.

'I miss you, Lelouch.'

Kaguya gawked. Maybe she was just grasping at straws, but an inkling of a thought was working itself out in her mind. Suzaku and Lelouch were the same. They wanted the same thing!

 _The cycle must be broken._

 _... It's doubtful that the one who does it will make all the bad things go away._

 _He brought the world together._

She looked at Zero, sitting by the aisle next to Nunnally in her wheelchair, and saw him. She didn't see the cape or the gloves or the cravat, she saw _him_. She saw the man behind the mask for what he truly was. She raised her hand.

"I know who Zero is."

 **C.C. was beginning to become interested with what Lelouch had to say, or perhaps more likely the conviction with which he spoke.**

 **"And to have this utopia you'd...?"**

 **"How would you do it?" Euphemia asked Suzaku.**

 **"It's simple," Lelouch said, looking down at a chess set in his room and picking up a white knight. He used it to knock over the black king. "When somebody wins, the fighting will end."**

 **Now C.C. was honestly intrigued.**

 **"Somebody?"**

Xingke's eyes widened as enough puzzle pieces finally fit into place for him to see the bigger picture. Lelouch loved chess, that much was evident. As Zero, he'd even designated Kallen as Q1, the queen, because she was his most powerful soldier. It followed that if he were to designate a chess title to himself then he would be the king. Not exactly strong, but of absolute importance. He was, therefore, the Black King, king of the Black Knights. And Suzaku had long been called the White Knight, from Pendragon to Beijing.

That on its own wasn't enough to prove who the new Zero was, but it opened a new corridor of thought, previously closed from the understanding that Suzaku Kururugi was dead. If only he assumed a conclusion, assigning an identity to the man behind the mask, Xingke could trace the steps back, then forward once more, each event leading to the Demon Emperor's assassination cascading perfectly into the next, aligning just as perfectly with the previously hidden truth of Suzaku and Lelouch's characters. Everything fit. Everything. And added all together, going back to the beginning of where things got turned about, everything pointed toward a sickening possibility: The Black Knights had, at least in part, wrongly betrayed Zero.

"Eh-hem," Xingke coughed, getting attention for himself as he raised his hand. "I also have discerned Zero's true identity."

Gino frowned, looking at Kaguya then Xingke in frustration.

"What? Both of you got it? Jeez, don't make me feel stupid."

Cornelia silently fumed. Everyone was figuring out who Zero was beneath the mask, yet somehow she couldn't? What a bother! It felt as though everyone was in on a secret, a grand conspiracy, just the sort of thing she hated. If and when she too found out, would they try to hold her to secrecy? And when she refused, what then?

'Damn,' she mentally cursed to herself. 'And I'm without my weapons! Nunnally purposely disarmed me and everyone else before we came here. Is she part of this? How far does this go!?'

Zero breathed heavy beneath his mask, stress now overcoming him and adding to his already emotional state. Lelouch's plan was crumbling before his very eyes and he could do nothing to stop it. Zero Requiem had seemed like such a good plan at the time, yet all it took was a little bit of behind the scenes action sequences and a few lines of dialogue to bring it to ruin? To be fair, it was a plan made in delirious despair, the pain of Nunnally's supposed death weighing on them and making them both want to die more than ever. And, in the end, perhaps it had all been one big excuse for Lelouch to do just that, nevermind if the world peace part of it worked or not.

Zero checked around the theatre. It seemed like almost everyone had figured out his identity already. What was the point of hiding it any longer? It was all going to come out soon, anyway. He closed his eyes in resignation and began to unfasten his helmet.

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	8. The April Fools' Day Chapter

**Entropy 7 (April Fools' Version): AMV HELL**

Behind his mask Zero closed his eyes in resignation. Slowly, he brought up his hands to his helmet, prepared for the storm that would hit when he finally revealed himself. He was never as good as Lelouch at keeping secrets anyway.

There was a split second while no one but Nunnally beside him noticed what he was doing, before he could unmask himself and throw the Zero Requiem to everyone else's mercy. The Britannian Empress paled and her eyes grew wide, a thought pounding in her head, telling her this was too soon. Was it her own thoughts? Or was it an echo from the day when her brother died - when a flash of memories crossed from his mind to hers with but a touch?

It didn't matter. Time seemed to stand still and she knew she had to act quickly. Before a better solution could even present itself to her, Nunnally gripped the remote to the theatre controls in her fist and hurled it with everything her fragile body could muster.

The remote sailed the mere half a meter from Nunnally's hand and collided with Zero's head - a direct hit - producing a crack of abused plastic and metal and glass as they met.

"Ow, what the...!?" Zero cried in sudden pain, his voice coming out garbled through his synthesizer. Apparently the remote had shaken one of his mask's internal systems, and he reeled from the impact and fell into the next seat, right onto Kallen's lap. "Nunnally, what are you...?"

All eyes were instantly set on the Empress, and she sat still in her wheelchair, arm still poised over her head from lauching her makeshift weapon.

"I'll never forgive you!" Thinking fast, the crippled queen decided on the first excuse she could come up with. "You killed Lelouch! I don't care if he was evil, he was still my brother! I won't ever forgive you for that!"

There was dead silence in the theatre, even the show onscreen having been paused, as if the entire room was holding its breath waiting for something to happen. Cornelia stood slightly, looking to her sister with a knitted brow and a sympathetic gaze.

"Nunna, it's alright." To her voice, Nunnally looked back at the warrior princess. "We can stop. We don't have to watch any more if you don't want to."

Gino frowned.

"Stop? But it's just started getting interes-..." He trailed off at a stern look from near everyone around him.

"No," Nunnally slowly responded to Cornelia, paying Gino no mind. "It's alright, Sister. We'll continue until the end. I'm okay."

That made one person at least. Zero was still sprawled over the theatre seats and attempting to push himself out from Kallen's crotch, much to her rapidly growing fury. He might've even hurried if he'd been able to see where he landed, but his mask's visual feed was somewhat blurred, and he spent a couple seconds blinking and shaking his head slightly, trying to see if it was actually the mask or his own eyes that were malfunctioning. A couple seconds too many.

"Why you little...!" Kallen seethed at the caped form of Zero atop her, and with a howl or rage she bashed her fist into Zero's mask, throwing him once again, now in the other direction. "I'd rather kiss Gino than have _you_ anywhere near me!"

Desite the situation, Gino latched onto the unexpected statement, his hopes suddenly soaring.

"Really?"

Kallen whipped her head to glare at him, red-faced, murder in her ice-cold blue eyes, and without another word Gino shrank in his seat, turning and suddenly becoming infinitely fascinated by the headless statue paused onscreen.

"So, if everyone's quite done?" Lloyd asked innocently, he as well as everyone else already used to the random outbursts and arguments, and now violence, that visited their little viewing every so often. "I'd rather like to get back to the show if you don't mind. If I'm right, and I always am, Cécile and I appear in the next scene."

Slowly, in cautious silence, Zero picked himself back up and tapped his helmet, confirming all systems were in proper order. He didn't move to take it off.

Satisfied she'd averted a crisis, with Zero only receiving a small beating to show for it, Nunnally sat forward and grunted slightly as she reached for the remote, having found its way from Zero's head to the floor. After the speech shared by Lelouch and Suzaku everyone was anxious to see what would come next, and she raised the controller to press the PLAY button before Zero could try to reveal himself again.

 **There was an explosion from somewhere nearby and the scene shifted to an old stadium where several Sutherlands faced each other down, weapons in hand. It seemed Kewell had already made his move to get rid of Jeremiah, and he intended to make it sure he didn't come back.**

 **An ominous, but somehow upbeat keyboard tune began to play over the image of the battle, and from inside his cockpit Kewell began to sing.**

 **"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.**  
 **Don't plan the plan if you can't follow through!"**

There was no response to what the audience was seeing, only silence as vague disbelief hit them all.

"Mm?" Jeremiah scratched his head in bewilderment. "I don't remember that happening."

 **Jeremiah fought bravely against the traitors, even outnumbered four to one, but he was caught unprepared by design, and he was slowly picked apart by his former friends. All the while Kewell continued to sing.**

 **"All that matters: Taking matters into your own hands.**  
 **Soon I'll lead the Purebloods... My wish is your command!"**

"No!" Villetta burst out in horror. "I was there! There was no singing!"

Rakshata frowned, unconvinced.

"Everything up to now has been accurate, or so you all have been saying. Why should now be any different?"

Chiba chuckled below her breath in agreement.

"Trust Britannians to be fruity enough to not take combat seriously."

 **The traitor Purists were about to deliver the final blow to Jeremiah, but at the last second a slash harken descended from above and forced them to break off. It was Suzaku, standing atop the Lancelot, the superknightmare staring down at the brawl from the stadium stands.**

 **The Honourary Britannian grinned triumphantly, quite uncharacteristic of him, and tossed his hair to the side, more in line with Lelouch's behaviour than his own.**

 **"Stand back everyone - nothing here to see!**  
 **Just imminent danger and in the middle of it: Me!"**

Kallen shot Zero a confounded look, shared by Nunnally and even Tohdoh. He said nothing in response, but raised his hands in surrender, indicating he had no idea what was going on either.

"Exactly what are we looking at here?" Ohgi frowned as the scene continued, oblivious to the looks Zero was receiving. "I mean... This can't be real, can it?"

 **"Yes, Lancelot is here, hair blowing in the breeze-" Suzaku flashed an overly dramatic smile, the setting sun glinting off his sparkling white teeth, and sat down in his cockpit, the Lancelot powering on again, "-the day needs my saving expertise!"**

 **The audience sat dumbfounded as Suzaku pushed his frame into a jump and landed by Jeremiah's Sutherland, singing proudly as he unsheathed the Lancelot's MVS swords and challenged Kewell and his men.**

 **"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." The Lancelot nodded to Jeremiah's Sutherland and charged his attackers. "Seems destiny ends with me saving you."**

Sayoko raised a questioning brow at her boyfriend and he shook his head in swift reply.

"That's not how it happened."

Everyone else was too confused to say a word, but as Jeremiah attempted to explain himself a sound came from beside him. Anya was clutching at her belly and gasping for breath, her face frozen into an open-mouthed grin as she threw her head back, shaking with laughter.

 **Suzaku made short work of Kewell's team, killing their pride but sparing their lives, and in a last ditch effort to win the battle the traitor Purist pulled a chaos mine from his frame's hip. Suzaku didn't mind though, and he began to move in for another attack, never ceasing his song, but something caught his eye.**

"No, Euphie!" Cornelia shouted at the screen as her dear sister ran into the stadium, for what purpose nobody could tell. "Don't do it!"

 **The chaos mine was already thrown and Yuffie was in range, having run in to stop the fighting. There was a tense second as she looked up, saw her death approaching, and the grenade opened up, spewing razor shrapnel in her direction. She looked away in fear, but somehow found that she wasn't dying. At the last second the Lancelot had jumped in front of her, Blaze Luminous shields sparking green and Suzaku's voice singing from its external speakers.**

 **"The only doom that's looming is you loving me to dea~th,**  
 **So I'll give you a second to catch your breath."**

Cornelia began to shake as realization hit her, harder than it ever had and in a way she couldn't just pretend hadn't happened. Suzaku and Euphemia? Together? In love!?

"Why that... Little BASTARD!"

Nina glanced at the princess to her right, huffing and puffing and having apparently developed a twitch in the bottom muscles of her eye, and blushed, carefully raising her hands to try to calm her down.

"Princess Cornelia..." she whispered, reaching out and almost taking the woman's arm in her gentle embrace. She hesitated at the last second though as Euphemia's voice rang out from the theatre speakers.

 **Suzaku had disembarked from the Lancelot and now knelt before Yuffie, actually Princess Euphemia, awaiting her command, and she looked upon him with wonder in her eyes.**

 **"Thank you, knightmare man, I don't think I can**  
 **Explain how glad I am you helped me not get blammed.**  
 **I would be splattered, I'd be woodchipped like a tree!**  
 **Thank you, sir, for saving me."**

 **Suzaku glanced up roguishly and flashed another sparkling grin. Then, in one swift movement he tossed his bangs to the side and took Euphemia's hand in his own.**

 **"Don't worry about it, A MAN'S GOTTA D-!"**

Nunnally tapped the PLAY button on the remote again, pausing the screen on an image of Suzaku belting out another line, arm outstretched like he was gesturing to a, coincidentally enough, audience. She frowned and looked at the remote in her hand, giving a small, bemused shake of the head.

"This doesn't seem right at all."

Zero sat completely still in his seat, his jaw unhinged behind his mask. This didn't seem right? What an understatement. This was shocking, scandalous, nothing at all like how that battle had actually gone. And that he'd dared take Euphemia's hand in his own, a mere Honourary Britannian? Back then he wouldn't have even dreamed of it, though seeing it all play out so perfectly - so _idealized_ \- it made him wish it really had happened that way. If nothing else it would have made Euphie laugh. She was just that kind of girl...

With Zero lost in thought and not giving advice on how to proceed, Nunnally gave a mental shrug and thumbed the BACK button on her remote, earning various responses to ending the musical number, most notably Anya's disapproval, and then pressed PLAY once again.

 **The previous scene that should have played right before the knightmare battle began again, but this time it was different. This time Lelouch stood before his window looking outside at the setting sun and a catchy electronic beat replaced all sound.**

 **He grinned.**

 **"They sentenced me to seven years of boredom**  
 **For trying to change the system from within."**

Milly's jaw dropped in awe of Lelouch's enticingly dark and sensual singing voice, and across the aisle Kallen raised a brow, starting to feel a little warm in the face. Gino looked around at the others in the audience, checking their reactions and finding them all just as confused, indicating he wasn't simply hallucinating this whole thing. He leaned forward, whispering to Rivalz a row ahead of him.

"Dude," he said awkwardly, attempting to sound casual but failing, "what the hell is going on?"

Rivalz shook his head.

"Dude, I never know what's going on."

 **"I'm coming now, I'm coming to** _ **reward**_ **them." As he sang Lelouch spun in place then threw out a hand dramatically. "First, retake Japan. Then take Pendragon!"**

 **Lelouch strolled through his room in the orange light of the setting sun through the window while the music swelled over the scene. He approached his chessboard, and as it came time for him to resume singing he picked up his black king, giving it a toss in his hand.**

 **"I'm guided by a signal in the heavens!"**

 **C.C. sauntered over to him, swaying her hips seductively and joining him as a backup singer.**

 **"Guid~ed!"**

 **"I'm guided by this birthmark-" he trailed his fingers along C.C.'s forehead, revealing an arcane red symbol engraved upon it, and she swooned from his touch, "-on your skin."**

Kallen tensed, feeling her face flushing fully, not for the first, or, it seemed, even the tenth time since this stupid episode began.

'Seriously?' she thought, whether wondering over the sudden song or C.C.'s inappropriate behaviour, even she wasn't sure. 'WHY!?'

 **C.C. fell into Lelouch's arms and turned her head away, too overcome with passion to look at Lelouch as he continued to sing and hover a hand over his left eye.**

 **"I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons.**  
 **First, retake Japan. Then take Pe-"**

Nunnally pressed the STOP button on her remote and furrowed her brow in consternation. This was starting to get ridiculous. Had she damaged the little device when she launched it at Zero's head? Maybe if she tried again she could get the blasted thing to work. Hopeful, she hit the FORWARD button a couple times, trying to skip the episode entirely and go onto a new one, and perhaps bypass the bizarre musical bits.

 **She skipped right to the middle of a scene, with Lelouch dancing on a stage with flashing lights all around, purple, green, pink, red, and blue, and a funky electronic beat thumping. He was dressed in the stylish attire of Zero and both his eyes glowed with Geass, and surrounding him was an odd assortment of backup dancers. To his left was a boy with floor-length blonde hair, cocky and bearing slashes of red on his right palm. Farther out was Charles zi Britannia with Geass in both eyes, and finally Marianne on the end, Geass in her left. To Lelouch's right was Rolo Lamperouge, Geass burning in his right eye, and some unknown man with white hair, judging by facial features appearing to be Chinese, Geass in both his eyes, then lastly C.C. on the very end. They seemed to be performing for... It wasn't really clear if they were performing for an audience or if they were shooting a music video.**

 **"This spell you got on me-" Lelouch waved his fingers over his eyes, "-it's like magic!"**

While Anya's unladylike guffaws from the back increased in volume, Tohdoh's face actually dropped at what he saw, and for a moment Xingke and Chiba beside him weren't sure if he was about to throw up.

"What _hell_ have we stumbled into!?"

Cécile was appropriately bothered by what she saw as well, but beside her Lloyd bobbed his head in time with the beat, completely unconcerned.

"Oh, I like this song."

 **C.C. and Marianne took to center stage to Lelouch's either side to sing a simple chorus while the other boys stepped back, dancing in sync behind them.**

Rivalz gaped.

"Do they all...?"

He didn't finish his statement, his mind spinning as he tried to process what he was seeing. Each of the people onscreen, some more recognizable than others, had Geass in one way or another, either glowing bright in their eyes or etched into their skin, and the simple schoolboy found himself sitting in horrified disbelief. If more than one person could have Geass then there could still be someone out there with the power, and that was hardly a calming revelation.

Others around the room seemed to have the same idea, most notably Chiba, who sucked in a breath as her whole body tensed. She narrowed her eyes, carefully looking to the right and back, taking note of everyone else in the audience. Any one of them could have Geass, and until she confirmed otherwise she couldn't dare let down her guard.

As for Nunnally, as fun as this all was it was altogether strange and distracted from the goal of getting the truth, and her frown deepened as she hit the FORWARD button on the remote again.

 **Zero stood on a stage before a crowd of angry Japanese, clearly following the Princess Massacre Incident, and threw out his arms, ruffling his cape before him.**

 **"BE PREPAR~ED!"**

"No," Nunnally muttered, pressing the FORWARD button again.

 **Suzaku was flying the Lancelot under the cover of darkness, and from his cockpit speakers came the sound of Lloyd and Cécile singing.**

 **"Brita~nnia! Brita~nnia~!"**

 **Suzaku grinned and pushed his controls harder and took up the song as a rock beat began playing.**

"This is..." Zero shook his head in horror. "What is this? I don't even..."

At one of the recurring words in the song, Tianzi glanced up to Xingke beside her curiously.

"Xingke? That word, with the 'F' sound, I do not know what it means."

"Nevermind that word, Empress," Xingke responded quickly with a shake of the head. "It's naughty."

"Naughty?" Tianzi thought to herself and nodded, repeating the strange word to herself a few times. It was fun to say.

 **The Lancelot descended from its flight, landing amidst a squad of Chinese Gun-Rus and tearing into them with its swords, Suzaku's voice roaring truimphantly above the fray.**

 **"Terrorists, your game is through,**  
 **'cuz you now you have to answer to**

 **Britannia, F-"**

Nunnally considered herself a pretty peaceful girl. She'd hardly raised her voice in her whole life. But right then she felt a seething anger greater than anything before. It would be one thing if these music numbers had actually happened, but it was completely obvious they hadn't. It was wasting everyone's time, and worse, was starting to get annoying. She tried the FORWARD button again.

 **"ONE DAY MORE!"**

She smacked the remote against her wheelchair and tried the FORWARD button again. One last try.

 **Lelouch sat on a couch in a huge and luxurious, if messy, room. He was wearing the fineries of Zero and held his head in his hands, shuddering in either pain or despair.**

 **He whispered, the slightest inflection of song in his tone.**

 **"Kallen, is it just you and me in the wreckage of Japan?**  
 **This really didn't go all according to plan.**  
 **And though the Black Knights will need me here with you,**  
 **I'm losing my mind and I'm afraid I'm going to lose you too."**

Kallen's eyes grew wide at what she was seeing. She knew that look on Lelouch's face, the tired face of utter hopelessness. She'd seen it before, twice in fact. Once right after the failed operation over the Pacific. The second right after the FLEIJA. Based on the setting presented onscreen, it seemed likely that was when this song was taking place.

This time Nunnally didn't skip ahead.

 **Lelouch stood up and took a few uneven steps. Tears were starting at the corners of his eyes.**

 **"This Geass keeps hope alive,**  
 **But it turns friends against me!**  
 **And I know one day,**  
 **It'll make me crazy.**  
 **Please, forgive me for whatever I do**  
 **If Zero abandons you."**

'If Zero...?' Kallen wracked her brain, trying to put the lyrics of Lelouch's song into context. 'Lelouch, did your Geass affect your mind? Is that why you...?'

Milly and Rivalz shared a silent look as they processed what was being sung. They may not have understood everything, but they knew Lelouch, and they could hear the meaning in his words, hear the sincerity of Lelouch's song and the desperation in his tone. He was pleading - pleading in vain to the girl who didn't even seem to be in the room with him.

 **The sound of an omnichord began to play over the scene as Lelouch took another step, the setting fading into the Imperial Throneroom and his clothing drifting with it into the unfeeling white of the Demon Emperor.**

 **"Kallen, I feel myself slipping away.**  
 **This power seems more like a curse to me every day.**  
 **And I'm thankful for all the love you give;**  
 **Please, Kallen, you have to live."**

Kallen's mouth opened slightly, unconsciously, and the beginnings of a tear formed at the edge of her eye. There was so much, wasn't there? So much going on within the troubled prince that nobody knew about. What pain was he going through? What burdens was he shouldering alone? How much of his confidence was an act when he sat behind closed doors weeping? And why didn't he trust her enough to help?

And then those words.

 _"You have to live."_

'Why, Lelouch?' The tears had finally begun to fall. 'Why did you want me to live? Why did you have to die? I thought I understood. After Zero showed up and killed you, I thought I finally figured you out. And yet...!'

 **"This Geass keeps hope alive,**  
 **But it's making me crazy!**  
 **And I need to tell you,**  
 **'You mean everything to me.'**  
 **Please, forgive me for whatever I do**  
 **If Zero abandons you."**

 **Lelouch took one more step and fell to his knees, a spot of red starting by his heart and staining his white clothing. He grunted in obvious pain and the setting dissolved around him again, from the decorated splendour of the Great Hall to blank white. He fell to his side and then onto his back, staring up into the blankness of the world around him. Jupiter hung overhead, and as the red spot grew and expanded over his clothing he smiled and repeated the last line of his song.**

 **"Please, forgive me... for... whatever I do...**  
 **If Zero... abandons... y-..."**

 **Lelouch trailed off as his eyes slowly shut, and the screen finally went black.**

The audience had a mixed reaction to the final song, but those more sceptical of Lelouch's supposed innocence at least had the grace not to speak and ruin the moment.

Kallen lowered her head to hide her tears. He actually said it, even if it was in a song that he clearly hadn't sung at any point in his life. He said what she meant to him. She meant everything to him. The thought of it took Kallen's breath away, but more than that, left a hollow feeling in her chest and a lump in her throat. It might've been better if he said he hated her. At least then she wouldn't have to regret losing him. She could untether herself from the dead prince, finally move on. Now she was only more stuck, and Kallen had a feeling she'd never get over him.

In her seat, Cornelia wondered to herself. She crossed her legs and put a hand to her chin in thought, and slowly attempted to make sense of Lelouch's words. He said that Geass was driving him insane. Could that have been the case? Is that why he took over the world as the Demon Emperor? Because the curse of Geass was slowly eroding his mind? It made sense, but at the same time Cornelia was fairly certain the overly dramatic finale hadn't actually happened in real life. Just like how it was obvious he hadn't danced on a stage with both his parents and, (she shuddered at the thought of him) their mad uncle.

Perhaps Lelouch was as much a victim of Geass as anyone else? After all, until now everyone was only aware of what the power did to others, the thought of what it did to its user going completely neglected. So then, that would mean-...

 **The video had continued right on after Lelouch's song and now showed him sitting across from C.C. on the train.**

 **"Are you mad?" she questioned carefully, earning only a frown as reply. "You're mad aren't you?"**

 **"I'M NOT MAD!"**

Startled by Lelouch's sudden disgruntled shout blasting through the theatre speakers, the entire audience instinctively drew back and Nunnally fumbled with the remote, dropping it to floor only for Zero to hurry and grab it for her. Onscreen, Lelouch continued his professedly calm rant.

 **"I don't understand your outfit! I just _don't_!"**

 **The outfit in question included pigtails under a tiny hat and a breezy white and red dress, but if C.C. was offended she didn't show it.**

 **"I'm getting the feeling you're upset..."**

 **"No! NO! I'm not upset! I'M NOT!"**

The remote was hastily deposited back into Nunnally's fingers and she smashed the STOP button before the scene could go any further, bringing silence and letting the audience breath a collective sigh of relief. What they'd just witnessed had certainly come without context, but, it was silently reasoned, even if the whole scene had been allowed to continue there was no guarantee it would make sense.

Lloyd and Rakshata didn't seem to mind though, looks of puzzlement on their faces as they physically strained to assign meaning to the last couple clips. Milly was bobbing her head a little, one of the tunes stuck on her mind, and Cornelia, quite unsure how to react to the randomness displayed onscreen, simply settled on being furious, though since she was already scowling no one could tell a difference in her mood. Guilford meanwhile sat reserved, quiet and waiting for his lady's orders like a proper knight.

"Well..." Rivalz began, breaking the silence. "That happened."

The boy received a few looks, but his simple observation otherwise faced no disagreement. Then his stomach gurgled.

"Ah, ahaha..." He laughed nervously and placed an embarrassed hand to his belly. "Sorry. We've been sitting here for awhile now. I guess I'm starting to get hungry."

Nunnally let a small frown onto her face. They were hardly even halfway through R1 before the remote started acting up, and she was getting impatient to get back on track, but with a sigh she decided it wasn't worth pushing her friends to keep watching. Rivalz was right - with what little progress they'd made into the mysterious DVD they'd already been at it for hours, and they were certainly due for a lunch at least. She gestured around the room, addressing the others.

"How about I call some Pizza Hut for us?"

 **"OH, PIZZA HUT,**  
 **OH, PIZZA HUT,**  
 **KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN AND'A PIZZA HUT!"**

"AAAAAAGHHH!"

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	9. Entropy 7: (R1,6) Stolen Mask

**Entropy 7: (R1;6) The Stolen Mask**

Behind his mask Zero closed his eyes in resignation. Slowly, he brought up his hands to his helmet, prepared for the storm that would hit when he finally revealed himself. He was never as good as Lelouch at keeping secrets anyway.

"That's so unfair!" Rivalz pouted loudly, to no one in particular at first. "At this rate I'll be the last one to figure out Zero's true identity. Hey, Zero-" he waved to Zero sitting next to Nunnally by the center aisle and put a hand to his ear, "-if I come over there would you tell me who you are? C'mon and be a pal, I won't even spill the secret to anyone else!"

Zero blinked behind his mask and unthinkingly dropped his hands back to rest against his legs.

"Mister..." he began in reply, trailing off as he remembered Zero wasn't supposed to know Rivalz very well. "Cardemonde, was it? I was actually just about to-"

Milly cut in, interrupting Zero with a laugh to scold her high school friend.

"Oh, come, Rivalz! I don't know who Zero is either. And so long as I don't cheat to get the answer, then neither should you!"

"Aw, but Milly..."

"I won't be having any of that, mister! Play fair and figure it out just like everybody else."

Rivalz continued to protest, not quite so serious anymore, earning another laughing admonishment from his crush, and Zero sat back, their mock argument playing out in the background while a new thought occured to him. He was just about to reveal himself, wasn't he? So why did he even bother staying in character when he responded to his blue-haired Ashford buddy? Why did he expend the effort to keep up the lie?

Jeremiah's powerful voice boomed from the back row of the theatre, the cyborg's arms crossed and his single visible eye shut in consideration.

"Does it even really matter that you know who Zero is? I'm sure you'll find out eventually, and then what? What will it change to know who's behind the mask? Last episode Zero even told you that he had no other identity. He gave up any claim to it long ago."

That was right. Zero remembered what Jeremiah said, that he was Zero and no one else. He'd abandoned the name of Suzaku Kururugi to become the infamous Knight for Justice the very second he plunged his sword through Lelouch's heart. He couldn't die, not with Lelouch's Geass command to live still gripping him, so there was no other way to redeem himself for all the crimes he'd committed in Britannia's service - and even before that - and all the lies he'd told to gain more and more power for himself, all amounting to nothing in the end.

Zero gave a short laugh, coming out as an ominous scoff through his helmet's voice synthesizer. Words he'd spoken to Lelouch once upon a time, when his hands were still clean of the evil that was FLEIJA, began to flood into his mind, and he nodded to himself, realizing, deep down, that they were still just as important now as they were back then. Zero had to turn his falsehoods into the truth. He was no hero, not like Lelouch had been, but it was his duty to keep acting like he was. For Lelouch, for the world, Suzaku had to keep the lie going. To the very end. Until his secret was fully exposed he couldn't reveal himself. No matter what came, he couldn't forsake Zero Requiem.

 **There was an explosion in Shinjuku close to where Suzaku and Yuffie still spoke together. In an old stadium, derelict and weathered, Jeremiah stood one against four in his Sutherland, without backup, without cover, and completely trapped by Kewell and his conspirators. The Margrave was disgraced for his role in helping Zero escape when he made his first public appearance, and the other Purebloods decided it was best to wipe that disgrace from their organization with blood.**

 **Luckily for Suzaku, always ready to fight to protect others, even the man who'd wrongly accused him of murder, Lloyd and C** **écile had been following him around all day in their truck, at first to give him a ride back to base from his trial, and then just because they were curious what he was up to with a strangely familiar pinkette. And in the back of the truck was the Z-01 Lancelot.**

 **"Oh and by the way," Lloyd smirked to Suzaku, "what a shame about your acquittal. Because now you'll have to work for me again."**

Tamaki shivered at the engineer's tone, the easy, sleazy way words glided from his mouth, and gave a look to the man on the other side of the aisle. He had the same disconcertingly smug grin on his face now as he did onscreen, and it made the brash Black Knight's skin crawl.

 **At first it seemed Lloyd wasn't going to let Suzaku go out in the super-knightmare, but the young Honourary Britannian had a single trick to play.**

 **"Wait, please! Isn't this an opportunity to gather battle data for the Lancelot?"**

 **Lloyd raised a brow, obviously amused.**

 **"Oh~ho~?"**

"Okay, seriously," Tamaki groaned. "That is the gayest sound ever."

Lloyd glanced back at his accuser and his grin widened.

"What? You mean when I do th~is?"

"Yeah, that!" Tamaki cringed and drew back as far as he could in his seat. "Would'ja stop!?"

The mad scientist only shrugged.

"Mm~ohhh~!"

Gino wasn't paying any attention to the exchange, instead watching the Suzaku onscreen with a mix of admiration and regret. Suzaku had truly been a noble warrior, even way back then before becoming a knight. What changed between then and the rise of the Demon Emperor? What caused Suzaku to abandon that chivalrous spirit and join the mad tyrant? And for that matter, what got into Lelouch to turn him from a hero into a monster? Everything onscreen was apparently accurate, corroborated by others in the audience, but the character of those two friends didn't match up at all with what Gino knew of them personally. It just made no sense.

 **Jeremiah was an excellent knightmare pilot, to be sure, among the top tiers of knights in Britannia, but in a clunky Sutherland, unprepared for battle, and outnumbered, he was no match. Bit by bit the Orange Knight's frame was disarmed and crippled, and at last Kewell and his traitors lowered their lances to deliver the final blow. As one they shouted.**

 **"All hail Britannia!"**

 **Then from above came a slash harken, red and gold, interrupting their kill. It was Suzaku, the Lancelot standing at the top of the stadium before the setting sun.**

 **"Stop it! You're all Britannian soldiers!"**

 **"What business does the Special Corps have here?" Kewell demanded through his frame's speakers, holding off his attack. "Interlopers will die!"**

 **Suzaku didn't take well to such a declaration and drew the Lancelot's MVS swords. He leapt down from his perch, dodging in the air as the traitor Purists fired their slash harkens at him. Kewell had started this fight, but he was going to end it.**

"Mm~, Lancelot!" Lloyd practically moaned with pleasure. "He's brilliant, isn't he?"

Tamaki shuddered again in disgust while Rakshata shook her head.

"Poor Earl of Pudding, always one step behind me. Your Lancelot is predictably conventional compared to the Guren, and only half as amazing."

"Nonsense! Cécile, you know Lancelot is the best, right?"

Cécile frowned as she considered the rival knightmares. The truth that Lloyd didn't seem to want to recognize was that the Guren actually _was_ more powerful in every way, if only slightly, and it was only because Suzaku was a better pilot that he could turn a defeat against Kallen's warmachine into a stalemate.

Lloyd huffed when he didn't receive the answer he wanted immediately and turned instead to Milly.

"What about you? You're on my side, right, Milly?"

"Huh?" Milly blinked at the bespectacled man beside her. "Well, I suppose. From what what I've seen so far the Lancelot is pretty amazing. I bet it could even toss a pizza better than any other knightmare in existence."

"Aha!" Lloyd disregarded her last statement and threw up his hands in joy, and before she even realized it he'd dropped them down to wrap loosely around Milly's shoulders. "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

Milly didn't blush at the unexpected touch, instead only giggling at Lloyd's enthusiasm. Rivalz though didn't much share her opinion and crossed his arms in a huff, attempting to focus his attention only on the action onscreen.

 **"Lord Jeremiah!" Villetta jumped into the fray with her Sutherland.**

"Quick question," Ohgi whispered to his wife beside him. "Did you two, you know...?"

Villetta blushed in embarrassment, giving her husband a frustrated slap on the shoulder.

"Of course not! He was my superior officer and..." She trailed off, looking away for a moment. Jeremiah had confided in her his deepest fears and deepest regrets. She'd been with him through everything, was even inspired to transfer to Area 11 because of him. In her pursuit for power Villetta had stabbed every back and burned every bridge, but she never even considered betraying Jeremiah. "He was a good friend for a long time."

 **Kewell's men were still alive but their KMFs were wrecked, and they now stood four against two elites and one next generation super-knightmare. They could keep fighting, but the battle was already decided.**

 **"Men," Kewell commanded through a clenched jaw, "stand down."**

 **The other Purists rolled their Sutherlands back, leaving Kewell to stand against his foes alone. Before anyone could move though, through the entrance to the stadium came Yuffie, bounding breathlessly in to help in any way she could.**

Nina gasped and Cornelia sat forward, eyes bulging.

"Euphie, no! What is she DOING!?"

Kallen tensed in her seat, confusion settling in.

"Didn't she know what was going on? Why would a pampered princess like her go _toward_ the battle?"

"You'll see," Zero whispered, tilting his head to Kallen so she could hear. "Euphemia was..."

 **"You understand, then?" Suzaku's voice filtered through the Lancelot's speakers. If it was possible to end this without fighting he would do anything.**

 **A hatch in Kewell's knightmare opened and he drew out a cylinder. It seemed he'd made his choice.**

 **"I'm using a chaos mine."**

 **Yuffie ran up just as the chaos mine was thrown, coming to a skidding halt in front of the Lancelot and freezing, realizing she'd made a grave error in interfering.**

Cornelia and Nina screamed in unison, momentarily forgetting that Euphemia had survived that encounter somehow.

"EUPHIE!"

"PRINCESS!"

Nunnally's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide as the chaos mine activated, spraying hundreds of superheated shards of metal down upon her sister, upon Suzaku behind her, and Jeremiah and Villetta behind him. From the front row Tianzi threw her hands over her ears and shut her eyes.

 **The Lancelot shot into action, activating its Blaze Luminous shielding and dropping its arms into position, two thin walls of green light all that stood between Yuffie and certain doom.**

 **The barrage lasted only a few seconds, but it seemed to drag on for minutes, until finally the chaos mine's payload was exhausted and it dropped harmlessly to the dirt.**

Cornelia sat back in her seat and exhaled, relieved. Nina still sat forward, not daring to draw a breath until she was sure nothing else could happen to her beloved princess. She didn't mean to draw attention with her reaction to the scene, but now that Cornelia was settling down it had grabbed hers.

"You're Nina, right?" the warrior woman asked carefully.

"Uhm, uh, yes! I mean, yes, Your Highness."

"You called out like you knew Euphemia." Cornelia didn't like the way the shy girl was acting. As soon as she'd started talking to her, Nina had begun to blush and look nervously away. Something about that behaviour made Cornelia very uncomfortable. "Did you know my sister?"

"Oh, well, I..." Nina attempted in reply. She continued to look away, and without realizing it began to fidget. "I didn't really _know_ her, but I respected her from what I saw of her public appearances. You might even say that I..."

She didn't continue, and Cornelia scrunched her face in dismay, not knowing quite what to think of the young woman beside her.

"I see."

 **For a lingering second everything stood still, and Yuffie's face grew stony, either adopting the semblance of strength or more likely showing her true self.**

 **"Everyone!" she called, her voice full and sure. "Lower your weapons at once! In my name, I command you! I am Euphemia li Britannia of the Empire, and the Third Princess of the Royal Family."**

Nunnally's brows knit together as she watched, the power in her sister's voice and the ease with which she took control of the situation reminding her so much of Lelouch. There was a certainty there, one that she herself had never fully developed, that the mere invocation of their names would could bend people to their will. It was true Nunnally was getting better, and as Empress her name held more weight than Prince Lelouch or Princess Euphemia's ever could, but the scene before her only reinforced in Nunnally's mind that either one of them would've been better suited to reign than her.

The Britannian Empress blinked, small driblets of saltwater forming at the edges of her vision.

'No,' she decided to herself, shaking her head slightly. 'I won't cry anymore. _They_ wouldn't want me to weep for them.'

 **As Kewell and his men bowed their knightmares to the princess Suzaku sat his cockpit, astounded. Yuffie was... She was Euphemia? Suddenly the name she'd given him made sense.**

 **"Euphie!"**

 **The pinkette turned round to look upon Suzaku, jumping from the Lancelot to stop before her, fist to his heart. He addressed her respectfully and lowered his head, but when she looked upon him, treating her as the royalty she truly was, she seemed so sad.**

"She seems really nice." Tianzi looked to Xingke beside her and smiled. "She's my favourite so far, right after you and Kaguya, Xingke!"

Rivalz scratched his head.

"So, this is official now? We're saying who our favourite people are, like they're characters in a tv show?"

"Guess so," Anya answered with shrug. "Are we keeping score?"

"Yeah! I can make a list on my phone with everyone's name and who their favourite person is. How much do you want to bet Rivalz Cardemonde gets the most votes for best character?"

Tamaki scoffed.

"Sorry, kid, but everybody's gonna say I'm the best once they see me in action on the big screen! Yeah! Go Team Tamaki!"

"Your Highness," Guilford whispered to Cornelia, placing a hand to his mouth to hide his lips from view, "these people are clearly mad."

She nodded.

"Mad, but mostly harmless, I imagine. Still, stay on your guard, Guilford."

 **Later than night Cornelia finally arrived in Area 11, a lineup of soldiers to her either side as she walked down from her military airship to greet her sister waiting below. After only a brief and stilted conversation the new viceroy turned to one of Clovis' ministers, now her minister, and demanded a report.**

 **"Yes," he answered immediately. "My lady, the first order of business is a welcome party we've arranged for Your Highness-"**

 **He cut his words short as Cornelia levelled her rifle-saber at his head.**

Kallen sat back, mildly surprised.

"Wow, you really don't like parties."

Tamaki and some others in the audience snickered while others decried her as being rude, but as always Cornelia didn't need help defending her actions.

"Zero was on the loose and there were rebellions to put down, and that fool wanted to faff about with wine and cakes as if I were soft like Clovis!"

Anya giggled from the back row.

"So, would you say you were instituting a _Zero_ tolerance policy?"

"The more I hear about him," Kallen added again, grinning at how easily they could ruffle people's sensibilities, "the more Clovis doesn't sound so bad anymore. He probably would've surrendered to the Black Knights right away; then the Demon Emperor wouldn't have come to power."

Before anyone could argue, Rakshata rolled her eyes.

"I think we're all missing the larger point. The design of that gunblade thing's grip would break your wrist if you actually swung it like a sword."

Cécile frowned.

"That's all you got out of the scene?"

"Mm," Lloyd considered, scratching at his chin. "Well, Cécile, she's not _wrong_."

 **The next day at Ashford there was a new student in Lelouch and Kallen's class. It was none other than Suzaku Kururugi.**

And just like that the episode was at an end and the screen went black. Kaguya giggled.

"So, that's how my silly cousin and Princess Euphemia met. I think they would've made a great couple."

"WHAT!?" Cornelia wasn't quite so warm to the idea. "I always thought it was strange Euphie chose him as her knight, but if that brat so much as _touched_ her...!"

Anya crossed her legs in her seat and leaned back with a smirk.

"You'd what? Go dig up Suzaku's grave and give him what for? Too bad he's not there."

She was implying something else, but Cornelia recognized Anya's words as referring to the Knight of Zero's corpse never being recovered. Before she could reply, Cécile spoke up.

"Suzaku and Princess Euphemia were quite close, actually. I mean..." The Vice-Director of ASEEC backed off as she recalled the secret couple's conversation during the Battle of Kyushu. "I'm sure they would've been happy together."

Gino's face was scrunched in thought, and finally he said what was on his mind.

"Honestly, I always thought Shirley should've gotten with Suzaku instead."

Milly, Rivalz, Kallen, and Nina turned in unison to the knight with expressions like he'd just revealed he thought clouds were made of cheddar and rained Cheez Whiz.

"Gino," Kallen drawled, "that's the stupidest thing I've heard all day. And I'm sitting next to Tamaki."

Tamaki frowned to his fellow redhead beside him in bewilderment.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ignoring the now concerned Tamaki, Gino crossed his arms and shot back at Kallen.

"How's that dumb? I went to Ashford for a little bit and it seemed like they really got along!"

From the back came the knight's reply, from someone few would've expected.

"Shirley was head over heels in love with _Lelouch_ ," Villetta said matter-of-factly. "There wasn't even a chance for her and Suzaku. If anything, you would've been a better match with her."

"Me?" Him with Shirley? That was something Gino'd never considered. "Why do you say that?"

"Shirley was intrigued by Lelouch's good looks, eloquence, and general attitude. In other words he looked and acted like a fairytale prince."

Milly picked up for her former coach.

"The only problem was Lelouch was too gloomy for her. It wouldn't have worked out even if she hadn't... You know..." The words went unspoken: _Killed herself._ "But you're a cheerful guy, Sir Weinberg, and you've got that same noble bearing too. I can see where Miss Villetta's coming from."

Tamaki nodded, following along as best he could, thinking over everything they'd seen since starting "R1" and trying to come up with something witty to add.

"I got it!" he laughed. "Lelouch was a good guy, right? But then he met C.C.-" he paused to mutter under his breath before continuing on, "-(who's a total bitch) and then she turned him evil! It all makes sense now."

There was a small groan from the audience as a whole, once again only annoying everyone the best Tamaki could manage, then Ohgi dared argue with his stubborn friend.

"Or she could've been the only one who was able to tolerate Lelouch's evil."

Kaguya shook her head from the front row.

"It looks like they bickered a lot at the beginning, but later they were so close! I think they completed each other."

As the talk went on, Kallen realized she was growing ever more irritable. Her face was tight in a scowl and she was fidgeting her leg impatiently. When this had started, she wasn't sure, but she was sure about one thing, and that was that she'd held it in long enough.

"You know what?" she burst out, everyone else quieting immediately. "I'm just gonna say it. I loved Lelouch, and I think I would've been the best for him to be with."

The announcement hit like a bomb, the entire room collectively gasping and staring at her wide-eyed. All except Zero, of course, whose mirrored helm revealed nothing of his expression though his posture made up for it. He'd actually raised his gloved hands in front of him defensively in shock, and sat frozen in that position for some time. It was no surprise he hadn't known about her feelings ahead of time. The person behind the mask, someone Kallen once knew before he lost himself to hypocrisy, was always a little naive, she figured - no, not a little - VERY naive.

Chiba was about to voice her utter revulsion at the idea of anyone loving Lelouch, but Gino was faster to comment.

"Oh..." The blonde had never been more deflated. "You don't think me and you could ever...?"

Kallen gave him a bored glare.

"No."

"Oh...! Oh..."

"Hey, Kallen," Ohgi began hesitantly, gulping slightly as they locked eyes, the blue in hers alight like ice-cold flames, "are you okay? What did Lelouch do to you?"

Kallen clenched her jaw without thinking and bared her teeth, that final statement pushing her over the edge of rage. She snarled and let out another torrent of emotion in the form of words, everything that she'd been left to ponder over alone since Lelouch's death - her love, her anger, and all of her sorrow over her greatest regret of leaving him.

"I'm fine! You saw what happened!" She pointed to the black screen before them, paused while everyone rambled. "He could only use his Geass on a person once, and he wasted it on me! I followed him because I chose to, and for no other reason! And I loved him of my own will too! You will NEVER make me second guess Lelouch again! _NEVER_!"

There was dead silence once again. Nunnally had originally set up this meeting with herself in mind, thinking at the time she'd get the most out of the Gift of Truth, but now it appeared quite obvious there was more that had gone on behind the scenes that she'd been blind to. Everyone here seemed to have secrets they weren't willing to share, and already their bonds with each other were beginning to break down as previously unknown or personal information became available to all. Or perhaps some of the bonds had been fake from the start - manufactured. A thought like a half-remembered dream from Lelouch's own memories slipped its way into Nunnally's mind as she considered it, of Villetta inserting herself into the Ashford friends' lives, and the Empress shook her head to be rid of it.

They had to proceed to the next episode quickly. They were all starved for more truths and if they were allowed to bicker any longer some in the audience might get physical and attempt to extract those truths by force.

"And the entropy grows ever greater," Jeremiah muttered sagely from the back row.

Sayoko nodded beside him and steadied herself, sure that violence was soon approaching, perhaps, by her estimate, erupting in full by the middle of the seventh episode. Anya only shrugged and smiled. Whatever happened, she was sure it would be amusing. And if for some reason _she_ came under fire at some later point, well, she'd just have to deal with that when it came up.

Nina squirmed in her seat and looked up at the blaze that was Kallen's fury. She began to add her own little quip, not meaning for anyone to actually hear, but as soon as the words left her lips she realized too late that the redhead had finished her rant and now stood silent.

"I always thought Lelouch and Suzaku were..."

Though the audience was silent their faces clearly displayed their thoughts on the proposed pairing. Except for Tamaki, who was never silent.

"Dude... Gross..."

"Ah! I mean... Lelouch always turned down dates from girls at school, and he and Suzaku were really close, and when Lelouch was Emperor they were always together, so I mean, I just thought..."

Nunnally didn't spare another thought to that subject and without a word pressed the PLAY button on the remote to signal an end to the discussion. Milly didn't take the hint.

"While Rivalz keeps track of who everyone's favourite character is, I'll just keep a list of pairings and which one everyone supports."

Zero let out an unprofessional groan.

"Please don't include that last one."

"Too late! Suzaku and Lulu - supporters: Nina."

 **The screen lit up with an image of ruins under an eternal dawn, and standing alone before the unending horizon was a shadowy figure.**

While others in the room weren't quite sure what to make of the scene in its opening seconds, Zero tensed and leaned forward, knowing exactly what he was looking at.

'That's...' he thought to himself, suddenly breathless as a chill ran down his spine. 'The Sword of Akasha! And that would make the person there..."

 **"Your Majesty," someone new, a man dressed in robes and a hood, stepped into the ruined temple and addressed the lone figure, "the remains have arrived."**

 **The one standing there was Emperor Charles, his voice easily enough to give away his identity as soon as he replied.**

 **"I was just conversing with Clovis, actually. The project must proceed without a moment's delay."**

The audience sat stunned. Charles was speaking with... With Clovis? But that couldn't be. Clovis was...

 **Before anyone could voice their questions the scene shifted to Ashford, to the very end of Suzaku's first day. He was an Eleven, and though opinions of him from his new classmates were mixed, still no one dared to approach him. Not but one.**

 **"Well he doesn't look all that scary to me," Shirley smiled, taking a step toward Suzaku's desk where the boy in question was getting ready to leave. "Why don't we just talk to him? I'm sure he's totally-"**

 **She was stopped by a hand on the shoulder from Rivalz.**

 **"Hey, the guy just got here. Give him some space."**

Zero smiled behind his helmet. The members of the Student Council really were something else. He'd always thought the whole school was against him until that cat chase, but it seemed even before that, before Lelouch spoke up for him and secured his place with the Council, they were already willing to accept him on good faith alone. It was an unexpected and happy surprise, the kind Zero thought he'd never have again.

As for the others in the room, their opinions ranged greatly. The Ashford students weren't surprised at all since they were there at the time. Cornelia and Guilford only raised a brow each, barely phased but still caught off guard by the kindness of the simple school kids. Xingke didn't show any outward sign of anything, but privately he was intrigued. The ones to show the greatest shock, of all them, were actually the assembled Japanese members of the Black Knights, Tohdoh, Chiba, Tamaki, and Ohgi.

"How could they be so trusting?" Chiba questioned aloud in a venomous whisper to Tohdoh, glancing across the aisle to the former Ashford group. "Britannians are racist bastards.

Tohdoh frowned.

"Schools have long been more liberal and free-thinking than the rest of their societies. It seems obvious Ashford's students would be more accepting than Britannians in general."

Tamaki leaned in to listen to the higher ranked Knights and hummed in thought, following Chiba's gaze.

"So out of all the asshole Britannians, we all got lucky enough to hang with the few good ones? Sweet."

Gino wasn't paying any attention to the small talk, instead letting a silly grin slide across his face as he pointed to the screen.

"There! That's a Shirley and Suzaku moment."

Milly nodded in quick response and pulled out her phone, selecting the list she'd started of potential pairings from the history unfolding before their eyes.

"Noted! One point to Suzaku and Shirley - supporters: Gino."

Rivalz coughed slightly.

"Rivalz and Milly?"

"Did you say something, Rivalz?"

"Aw." The poor guy slumped. "No, I didn't say anything."

 **A little later Lelouch and Suzaku met in private on the school's roof to talk and catch up, and despite the lies Lelouch told to keep his activities secret, it was a genuine moment of friendship between them. Eventually the subject of why Suzaku was at school at all came up and he explained what little he knew. Apparently someone had pulled strings for him to get him a fair trial, and moreover arranged for him to be enrolled at Ashford Academy. Suzaku wasn't sure who was helping him, but as he spoke the scene transitioned to give a clear hint.**

"It was Euphemia?" Zero wondered. In retrospect it was incredibly obvious that the Pink Princess had been the one to do so much for him. How he'd overlooked her involvement at the time, he had no idea.

Nina's face lit up at seeing Euphie onscreen again, and from the other side of the room Kaguya gave a cheeky grin.

"If Lelouch was a fairytale prince, then Euphemia most certainly would qualify as a fairytale princess."

"She really was," Milly answered casually, making another mark on the pairing list on her phone. "I'm adding Euphemia and Lelouch here. What does everybody think?"

Nina and Cornelia went wide-eyed.

"EH?"

Zero shook his helmed head furiously.

"No way! I mean... They were siblings. They'd never work out together."

"Oh yeah," Milly muttered, rather put out as she remembered. "I guess I forgot. It's just, before we moved to Area 11, the Ashfords were a respected noble family. I met all the princes and princesses, but I don't remember seeing Lelouch at all."

"You really don't remember us, Milly?" Nunnally's brows knit together in concern as it became apparent once again Milly's memories, and that of some others too, had been somehow changed.

Cornelia scoffed.

"That's Geass for you. It's an evil power, and Lelouch used it on you to make you forget. I've been saying it this whole time but everyone insists otherwise."

Milly shook her head vehemently. No matter if this was Princess Cornelia or not, it was downright _perverse_ to even consider that Lelouch had tampered with her mind. His rule as the Demon Emperor might have granted some weight to the warrior woman's claim, but deep down Milly refused to believe it, and she knew Rivalz didn't either. Something was wrong with her mind, yes, but it couldn't have been Lelouch who caused it. It just couldn't have been.

"Well," Anya interrupted with an innocent observation, setting everyone back onto the previous subject, "Lelouch and Euphemia were only _half_ -siblings, and royal familes _have_ been known to marry off half-siblings in the past..."

Anya had to stifle a laughing fit not a second after floating out her comment into the unsuspecting audience. The looks on everyone's faces were priceless.

 **Next was a short scene featuring Cornelia and her incredible skill with a knightmare. Ruthlessly she carved through Japanese resistence fighters and took on their central base alone, gunning down everyone in her sights indiscriminately.**

"BITCH!" Tamaki stood up and pointed. "Ya know, I almost forgot that you were a horrible person with all that happy school crap. How can you just sit there and not be begging us Japanese for forgiveness, HUH!?"

Cornelia's mouth twitched, the only indication that she was more than just annoyed.

"Back then I didn't know about Geass," she replied coldly. "I believed I could trust others, especially family, and it was in the interest of the Royal Family to maintain and expand our Empire. But once I learned about Geass, I realized I couldn't trust anyone, so I stopped helping Britannia until I could be sure I was doing it for the right reasons. I know now that they weren't. I'm still not convinced I can trust all of you, either."

"Are you sayin' we're still geassed!?"

"Are you?"

 **That night Lelouch invited Suzaku over for dinner and to see Nunnally. It was a heartwarming moment, even for the most jaded in the audience, but all too quickly it drew to an end when Suzaku had to go back to base.**

 **"Don't worry," he reassured Nunnally. "I've been reassigned to the Engineering Corps. It's a lot less dangerous."**

"HA!" Lloyd broke into a fit of laughter, pointing at the screen and doubling over in his seat. "'Less dangerous' he says! LESS DANGEROUS! Ha HA!"

There were a few scattered snickers, from Gino, from Anya, and surprisingly even from Zero, but few others were as amused. Guilford huffed, voicing their shared concern.

"Lord Asplund, do you find this funny?"

"Why, of course! I never made enemies out of anyone here, nor do I have any dastardly secrets to worry about being revealed, unlike the lot of _you_ , so I'm just relaxing and being entertained. Are you really so adamant about having me join your moping session?"

"Hmph." Deciding it was futile to discuss any further, Guilford adopted the same frown as Cornelia beside him and went back to watching the show. "Nevermind."

 **Elsewhere, Jeremiah Gottwald, taking the fall for Zero's debut and escape, and also for the infighting within the Purebloods faction, had been locked in a cell, but on a whim was released by none other than Guilford due to lack of evidence to tie him directly back to the masked hero. He was given an ultimatum, either return to the army as a demoted knightmare pilot or cultivate an orange farm.**

Jeremiah let out a hearty chuckle as he looked at his own face before him, horrified and humiliated. What a turn of fate indeed! If only he'd known back then how things would turn out.

"Well, Guilford!" Jeremiah placed an arm around Sayoko and leaned back in his seat, checking around the room and being pleased to find out at least Zero and Anya had also gotten the humour from the other knight's words onscreen. "Jeremiah Gottwald is SO loyal that he accepted BOTH parts of your offer! An orange knight I am, and ever will be! HAHA!"

To her left Kallen thought she heard a guffaw, and she turned to see Tamaki, still somewhat bothered about his exchange with Cornelia, but at least wearing a half-smile.

"That Jeremiah guy is pretty cool, actually."

"Yeah," Kallen answered back slowly, still a little unsure what to think about the odd cyborg. "I guess he really changed from how he was back then. Lelouch had that effect on a lot of people."

 **The next day at school Suzaku was treated to a similar abundance of neglect as he received the day previous. This time though, there was an added bonus of some of the students vandalizing his belongings when he wasn't guarding them.**

 **As for Lelouch, he spent his day as lazily as he usually did, with one exception.**

 _ **"They were the largest group we had in Central Japan."**_ **Ohgi reported Cornelia's attack on another resistence cell over the phone to a stony-faced, calculating Lelouch. "** _ **Look, Zero, it won't be long 'til she comes after us."**_

 **"Just keep your head," Lelouch replied simply. "Our chance will come."**

 _ **"But-!"**_

 **"Sit tight, I'll contact you later."**

Ohgi's jaw dropped at what he saw. Lelouch took his calls at school, right out in the open? He didn't at least go into a secret hideout or something? Was conspiring for the downfall of an empire so mundane to him?

 **With that, Lelouch put his phone away and grew pensive.**

 **'He's getting too overly familiar. Maybe I better cut my ties with them.'**

"Hey!" Ohgi blurted. "We did everything he wanted, but he was just willing to throw us away!?"

Anya was about to say something to frustrate the Japanese Prime Minister, but before she could Kallen answered instead.

"Zero earned our trust, Ohgi. He proved he could do anything. But we didn't do the same for him, so what reason did he have to trust us?"

"Kallen, we saved Suzaku, you, me, and him. We did everything right and even stayed in contact. We bent over backwards for him because we thought we could trust him, then he just went and threw us away just like he wanted to back then!"

"Who threw who away?" Kallen let the spark back into her eyes. "If I recall, you were the most vocal about betraying Zero."

"He betrayed us first!"

Gino, as well as Milly and Rivalz, sat aghast as Ohgi and Kallen again picked up their favourite argument, for the first time fully hearing about the Black Knights' mutiny. If they had anything to say it was quickly pushed from their minds as Kallen let her fury grow. Luckily Zero came to the rescue.

"Please calm yourselves!" His helmet's mic had been turned up again and he stood, throwing his arms wide. "Debating over the facts before they are all revealed is a wasted effort! We must remain united no matter what we may see."

Ohgi took a deep breath, helped by Villetta's calming hand grabbing his, and Kallen scoffed to Zero.

"Whatever, wannabe."

 **In the Student Council room Nina was typing something down on the club computer when Nunnally entered. The bepectacled girl was on edge, more than usual, even. She was frightened by the Eleven who'd joined her class.**

Several pairs of outraged eyes fell upon Nina while those more forgiving cringed on her behalf. It didn't stop them from leaning away though, of course. The glares from Tamaki and Chiba alone were enough for anyone to want to distance themselves from the poor girl. They didn't say anything, and neither did anyone else. Judging by the way Nina was attempting to burrow herself into her seat and hide, it was clear she already knew what they were thinking anyway. After all, she was thinking the same thing.

'Idiot! Idiotidiotidiotidiot! I am in so much trouble...'

 **School had just ended for the day when a delivery from Pizza Hut arrived at Lelouch's door, not for the first time and far from the last. C.C. greeted the deliveryman without a word, which was about as cordially as could be expected from her at the time, but while she was busy accepting the boxes of cheesy delights a familiar grey cat happened to wander its way past her.**

 **Inside, Lelouch was creating a storage device to hide his mask, the already infamous spiked helm of Zero, known round the world from only one appearance, and he carried diligently on with his work as C.C. entered with a box of pizza in her hands, all ready to dig into, oblivious as the interloper cat followed her in to explore his home.**

Cornelia narrowed her eyes at the screen as the cogs in her brain began to turn.

"I have a feeling something very stupid is about to happen."

 **The door to Lelouch's room opened and on the other side was Nunnally, calling her brother for tea. She smelled the pizza, again not for the first time and certainly not the last, and she giggled.**

 **"Lelouch, maybe you should cut down on the pizza. You don't want a blubbery belly."**

 **Lelouch laughed with his sister and went to join her, but his mirth didn't reach his face.**

 **"Just don't** _ **touch**_ **or rub it, okay?"**

Nunnally blinked, taken quite aback. Back then, she'd thought he was talking to her about his blubbery belly. Her reaction onscreen demonstrated as much. But at the same time he'd been speaking to C.C., warning her with his stern frown and the inflection in his voice not to disturb his mask. How very clever. But at the same time distressing. How many other times had Lelouch made use of Nunnally's blindness to deceive her?

 **Arthur the Cat had somehow gotten into Lelouch's mask case when he and C.C. weren't looking, and with a confused mewl he wandered away once more. He stopped in front of Lelouch and Nunnally having tea in the dining room though, and just in time Lelouch managed to catch sight of what was on the silly kitty's head.**

"THE MASK!?" Milly, Rivalz, and Kallen all uttered the words at the same time, the mystery of the Cat Hunt finally solved. Zero, Nunnally, and Nina were similarly suprised, but had the sense not to blurt out their thoughts. Zero couldn't let anyone know he'd been involved with that ridiculous event to keep his identity hidden (from the few who still didn't know it), Nunnally had to stay dignified as the Brittanian Empress, and Nina still didn't feel safe showing her face for her "Eleven" comment.

 **Lelouch stood up from his seat and gaped, a horrified, high-pitched scream escaping his lips. It was an unnatural sound, especially from him, the kind of sound only uttered when the absolute worst possible thing just occured. The Mask of Zero was comfortably in place on Arthur's head.**

While Lloyd, Anya, and Rakshata descended into another laughing fit, Cornelia's hand planted itself against her face. Her brother, her evil, megalomaniacal brother who schemed and killed and conquered until all the world was forced to bend the knee to him, was about to be exposed by some random cat literally off the street. Considering this, it called into question whether he was actually an evil supergenius or just got _really_ lucky.

 **"Hey...!" Lelouch's weak protest sounded almost like a child challenging the playground bully. Still, it was enough to scare Arthur into a run. "Give that back!"**

"This is funny!" Tianzi exclaimed with a cute grin, checking to her right to see Kaguya was smiling just as wide, gasping as short bursts of girlish laughs escaped her mouth.

"Yes, Empress." Xingke stifled a small chuckle. "This actually is quite amusing."

From the back row Rakshata's neighing laughter continued.

"Imagine how much fur got into that mask! It was probably still tickling him all the way until the Black Rebellion!"

Despite the other woman's good humour, and the hilarity that was beginning to overtake the audience bit by bit, Cécile's expression grew concerned.

"He could have washed it out, couldn't he?"

Zero shook his head solemnly.

"Once cat hair gets onto something you never get it all off. Trust me. I know."

 **As Lelouch sprinted as fast as his untoned muscles would take him, C.C. watched the chase leave the building and continue outside through the window.**

 **"That wasn't my fault, was it?"**

"Yes!" Kallen was one of the last to start laughing, mostly because she knew exactly what Lelouch was feeling at the moment and shared his distress. She'd almost been exposed a few times as well. "Yes, you pizza-witch, it WAS your fault!"

 **Milly, Rivalz, and Nina must have seen Lelouch tearing through the school courtyard on their way to the clubhouse, because the scene shifted next to the three of them standing before Nunnally just outside its door, wondering what was going on.**

 **"I think a cat ran off with something pretty important to him," the princess in hiding explained. As she spoke Nunnally's voice grew tremulous, worry for her brother lacing her every word.**

 **"Important?" Milly probed.**

 **"I'm not sure what, exactly, but I'm positive it was something of value to him."**

Nunnally sat in her seat without any idea how to react. She'd been right that Arthur unwittingly stole something important to Lelouch, but she couldn't have guessed _how_ important it really was. The truth never got out back then, the whole debacle ending up as a wild goose chase (or wild cat chase), but now knowing exactly what was taken added to the absurdity of the situation, and the Britannian Empress couldn't help but giggle a little bit.

 **"That's weird," Rivalz decided. "What could be so important to the guy?"**

 **Nina tried a suggestion first.**

 **"A love letter?"**

 **Then Milly.**

 **"An embarrassing photo?"**

 **Rivalz was last to speculate.**

 **"Poetry he wrote?"**

 **Nunnally seemed to have lost the thread.**

 **"Poetry?**

 **Milly and Rivalz turned to each other with mischievous glee in their eyes and smirks on their lips, and they practically cackled with delight.**

 **"Leave it to us!" Milly suddenly declared. "We'll get our hands on this thing before Lelouch has a chance to blink! Just you** _ **wait**_ **."**

The laughter coming from the audience was so far divided into healthy chuckles and awkward giggles. Villetta in particular was feeling very uncomfortable watching this. It brought up bad memories of being a coach and having to participate in the madness that was Ashford Academy. Gino and Anya were laughing perhaps the hardest so far, in the former's case because he remembered his own time at the school and how extraordinary that had been, reinforcing his positive feelings toward the hilarity still only winding up onscreen. In Anya's case, she was laughing just because she could, getting the most out of each gasping breath to make up for years of emotional deadness.

Not surprisingly, Guilford wasn't laughing at all, instead looking genuinely upset. He looked to Rivalz and Milly a row ahead of him with a furrowed brow and a slack jaw, open in astonishment at how casually they'd decided to out their School Vice-President at the time.

"You guys are horrible friends."

"Naw," Rivalz snickered in reply. "Ol' Lelouch would've done the same for any of us."

Guilford pondered the boy's phrasing for a moment and eventually shook his head, understanding not coming to him.

 **Arthur had somehow gotten onto the roof while Lelouch still chased futilely after him, strategizing but not watching where he was going. He stumbled and fell as he crossed paths with some garden shrubbery, and the masked kitty simply trotted right by him toward the school proper.**

A thought came to Kaguya, and her lips formed an 'o' as she let out a scandalous guffaw, laughing before she'd even started her comment.

"The pussy was so close, but the bush got in the way!"

Some of the Britannians began to laugh harder in reponse while others shrugged to each other, not getting the joke. Tianzi attempted to ask Xingke what was so funny but he declined to answer. Nina went red while Cornelia and Guilford beside her, ever the wet blankets, frowned and shook their heads in disapproval. Lloyd joined in the fun with a snort.

"That pussy really gets around!"

The laughter around the room increased, Anya's face going as pink as her hair as her chest heaved under the weight of her own laughs.

"Oh my god..." Kallen put a hand to her head to support it as laughs of sheer disbelief ran their course through her body. Even she could only hold out for so long before she had to give in and just enjoy Lelouch's suffering for the entertainment it was.

"Ahhh," Gino sighed. "Double entendres, am I right?"

Tamaki scratched his head.

"Double what, now?"

 **Arthur ran into the school, being sighted by two girls then scampering off again, Lelouch hot on his trail and using Geass to remove their memories of the mask on his head. And then came Milly's voice over the school broadcasting system.**

 _ **"This is Milly Ashford, your Student Council President. Cat Hunt, everybody! There's a cat loose on campus that needs to be rounded up. Put everything on hold, people. Participating clubs'll get budget priority. And whoever catches our feline friend will get an extra special prize: A big ol' kiss from one of the members of the Council! Aha! Hahaha!"**_

Kaguya sucked in a breath as stars twinkled in her eyes.

"Miss Milly!" she said in admiration. "That was a wonderful idea!"

Milly tossed her hair to the side and grinned.

"Anything to sweeten the deal, right?"

"I wish I could've gone to your school."

"I wish you could've too. It sounds like you appreciate my special brand of genius."

 **Multiple clubs practically, and in some cases even literally, jumped into action, the Film Club, the Gardening Club, the Rugby Team, and the Equestrian Club being only a few of those enticed by Milly's promise. Kallen and Shirley however didn't seem to like the idea. As members of the Council themselves, they weren't about to let just anyone catch that pesky furball.**

 **As a final note, Milly had Nunnally explain what Arthur sounded like, and she thought for a moment before speaking into the mic, her voice ringing all across the school and beyond:**

 _ **"MEOW!"**_

By now almost everyone was rolling on the floor in hysterics, even Cornelia chuckling lightly at Nunnally's impression of a cat. Zero was laughing openly as well, the volume on his voice modulator turned down so it wouldn't boom over everyone else.

 **More scenes of students scrambling to capture the elusive kitty flashed onscreen, until finally Kallen and Shirley had him cornered. He hid under a table, so they never managed to catch a glimpse of Zero's mask, but in the end that was as close as they'd get to success.**

 **"W-wait a sec," Shirley said, causing Kallen to stop before reaching out to grab under the table.**

 **"What's the matter?"**

 **"Who would you want to get a kiss from? Is there anyone in particular? It wouldn't be Lulu, would it?"**

Kallen's laughing subsided a little as she remembered that conversation. At the time the thought had been revolting. Her? With Lelouch the lazy, selfish, aloof, supersmooth, always-has-an-excuse Student Council Vice-President? No way. But if she'd only known back then. If she could've kissed Lelouch the cunning, brave, selfless, supersmooth, always-does-the-right-thing hero instead, she would've answered Shirley on the spot. Yes. A hundred times, yes.

 **In the heat of the moment, neither girl noticed as Arthur slipped between their legs and escaped once again, running up the stairs, now followed not only by Lelouch but Suzaku as well, far outpacing his out of breath friend.**

 **The search led them to the top of another roof, this one with a precipitous incline, and shortly after Lelouch began climbing, following after Suzaku well ahead of him, he began to slip.**

"Hm," Zero considered to himself, viewing the scene in the safety of his theater seat. The way it seemed at first was that Lelouch had lost his grip on the rooftop tiles, but from a different perspective he was able to see what no one that day had. Lelouch purposely let go to draw Suzaku's attention away from Arthur. Was he even in any danger to begin with? "Either way, you knew me well, old friend. You knew exactly how I'd respond."

 **Suzaku looked back at Lelouch and his eyes went wide, and without a second thought he turned and almost flung himself back down to grab Lelouch's hand, 'saving' him from a dangerous fall.**

 **Shortly after, he managed to recover Arthur, who just moments before dislodged the Mask of Zero from his head, and brought him before all the school, assembled and watching the drama unfold. They were quiet at first, unsure what to think of the Eleven that saved their Vice-President, but showing their accepting character yet again, Shirley, then Rivalz, then Milly herself went up to Suzaku to congratulate him.**

 **It was at this moment that Lelouch reentered the equation, calm after recovering his mask and pleased that Zero's identity was still a secret. He spoke up, firmly, using a tone that was to become well-known by his future Black Knights, and then his subjects around the world, telling everyone there exactly what he thought of Suzaku.**

 **"He's my friend. Madam President, would you permit him as a member of the Student Council?"**

 **Milly briefly pretended to consider then cheered her approval, followed by both Lelouch and Suzaku receiving the prize for capturing Arthur, one big ol' kiss on the cheek from a member of the Student Council, albeit Honourary, Nunnally Lamperouge.**

Jeremiah felt he could beam no brighter at what he saw before him. It warmed the cyborg's heart, and both his artificial secondary hearts too, to see his lieges and their knight so happy, even if it was a fleeting moment soon to be followed by deception, betrayal, and violence and hate that consumed them all, erasing who they truly were and forcing them three to live a lie.

Suzaku was doomed to live behind a faceless mask. Lelouch could never go out in public again. And Nunnally had perhaps the most cruel fate of all, lying to the world that she was a capable and willing queen, and not even having the small luxery of a fake name to hide behind anymore. Suzaku merely had to keep up the standard of the Zero character. Lelouch had the new identity of L.L. to distance himself from the Lelouch of his past. But she, Nunnally vi Britannia, had only herself, had to portray _herself_ as strong and confidant, no mask like Zero, no arcane title like L.L., just herself.

Such thoughts may have put a damper on the episode, which so far had been beyond enjoyable and gave the Knight of Orange a fascinating look into the life of his lord before turmoil took him beyond the horizon of despair, but Jeremiah smiled on. For he knew he shared the knowledge with Anya and Sayoko alone that at least the end of everyone's shared journey had been salvaged. And that was just fine with him.

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	10. Entropy 8: (R1,7) Shingeki no Cornelia

**Entropy 8: (R1;7) Attack on Cornelia**

 **Shortly after the Cat Hunt, all of Ashford Academy assembled in the school's auditorium to watch a live event, broadcasted straight from Pendragon, the capital of their Empire. The State Funeral for Prince Clovis was finally being held, and every patriotic Britannian was duty-bound to bear witness to it. Present on location was Clovis' mother, Odysseus, Schneizel, and many others, and all wore suitably solemn expressions.**

Nunnally's jaw dropped in disbelief, and she almost felt like slapping a palm across her face at what she saw.

"They conjugated it wrong," the Britannian Empress muttered, not to anyone in particular, referencing the information banner at the bottom of the broadcast. "I'm glad I was blind when this happened."

 **As the camera filming the funeral panned across a stage and a huge portrait of Clovis behind it, a banner appeared at the bottom of the screen for everyone in the Empire to read:**

 **PRINCE CLOVIS'S STATE FUNERAL**

Cornelia and Guilford both sat in silence, arms crossed and their faces twisted into looks of contempt. At the back row Jeremiah was shaking his head, and beside him Anya was choking back another snicker. Lloyd made no attempt to hide his laughter.

"This went out live across Britannia," he pointed out amidst a burst of giggles, also physically pointing to the screen. "And the news people botched it up! HaHA!"

From his own little spot in the theatre, Tamaki frowned and squinted, trying to pinpoint what all the Britannians seemed to be on about. After a long moment of scrutinizing, his face scrunched up and he scratched at his hairline.

"I don't get it. Everything looks fine to me."

Kallen dropped her chin onto her palm and rolled her eyes at the man.

"They conjugated 'Clovis'' wrong. For names ending with 'S' you don't put another 'S' to show possessive."

At the front of the room Xingke nodded, rather bemused, himself, but at least capable of recognizing the error now that it had been explained. Kaguya and some of the others were able to follow along too, but Tamaki was having a hard time grasping the nuances of English. In response to Kallen's quick lesson he fielded the most intelligent thought that came to his mind.

"Huh?"

Kallen groaned, and before she could try again using plainer language, Anya cut in, holding back a mischievous grin.

"That's not true," she prodded. "Adding another 'S' after the apostrophe isn't wrong. It's just less common. Look it up."

Sitting next to Lloyd, still in the midst of a giggling fit, Milly shook her head.

"It would be nice to standardize it. But until that happens it's generally accepted that we don't do that for proper nouns."

Rivalz raised a brow.

"What about common nouns?"

"Then go right ahead."

Beside Tianzi, sitting in bewildered silence at this odd turn, Kaguya turned in her seat to check with any Britannian who would answer her.

"So 'Clovis' is a proper noun, right?"

"Right."

"What about if you're trying to say there are multiple people who possess something, like 'the Joneses' family heirlooms'?"

"Uh..." Milly stopped to ponder that one.

Nunnally had paused the DVD as the debate began to flare up, and at the back Jeremiah looked down on Anya beside him, breathless and pink-faced as she laughed at all the chaos that was unfolding from a simple grammar disagreement.

"You just like making things worse, don't you?" he asked simply.

She gasped back, clutching at her sides.

"It's hilarious!"

While all this was going on, Tamaki was being unusually silent, looking back and forth as different members of the audience shot queries around haphazardly, answers and possible exceptions to different grammatical rules coming just as sporadically. The look of utter bafflement across his features showed the obvious turning of gears in his head, long unused and now choking to life to make sense of what he was hearing. Eventually he'd had enough of thinking, and he interrupted.

"I get it now!" He made of fist of triumph and grinned. "Clovis was a prince, so 'Clovis' is a noble-noun, and something like 'Tamaki' would be a commoner-noun. That's why you don't use the apostate!"

Almost everyone went silent at that statement, except for a few troublemakers still laughing uncontrollably in their seats, and turned to face Tamaki, once again unwittingly uniting former enemies in the shared shock at the bounds of his ignorance. He looked around, seeing the appalled faces staring at him, and his mouth fell into a scowl.

"What?" The crass Japanese man didn't get a reply, just more dull stares and scattered guffaws. "Oh, c'mon! Whadd'ya expect from me, anyway? English ain't even my first language! How am I supposed to know this crap!?"

Amidst rising laughter from Anya and Lloyd, Nunnally sighed in defeat, and raised her remote to get the show going again. As the video resumed and showed more of those in attendance of Clovis' funeral, Tamaki huffed and glowered to himself.

"English is stupid."

 **The whole nation was in mourning for the Artist Prince, the Flower Prince Clovis, but surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Emperor Charles was not. The giant of a man took to the center of the stage before a podium and delivered the first powerful line of his funeral speech.**

 **"All men are NOT created equal!"**

The former emperor's speech had been given quite a long time ago, and the audience had mostly forgotten it since then, but hearing it again brought back bad memories for the Japanese in the room.

"His son is dead," Ohgi growled in disgust, "so he gives a speech about the benefits of an ultra-stratified society?"

They kept listening, Charles' words seeming more like the ravings of a madman every second, even to the Britannians in the theatre, and as he continued a montage of characters flashed, each reacting to the speech in a different way.

 **Shirley's eyes shimmered with sadness, perhaps for Clovis, perhaps for all the people who Charles preached discrimination against. Rivalz smiled on oddly, not quite sure what to think. Kallen held back a growing outrage. Most interestingly though, Diethard didn't pay attention at all, instead rewatching his footage of Zero, almost entranced by the hero, like a film critic analyzing an actor's performance.**

Xingke scoffed at one part of the speech and Tianzi blinked up at him in surprise and confusion.

"We're not lazy, are we, Xingke?"

"No, Empress," he replied with a wan smile.

"Then why did he say we were lazy?"

Xingke had to think. How could he quickly summarize the intricacies of the Chinese Federation's economy in a way she might understand? After a moment, he decided to just take the easy way out and explain in detail later.

"Because he was a bad man, Empress."

 **"Britannia alone moves forward, advancing steadily into the future," Charles continued. "Even the death of my son Clovis demonstrates Britannia's unswerving commitment to progress!"**

While the Britannians around the room stayed silent, sharing a perplexed expression, the others in the theatre could hardly believe their ears, even if this wasn't the first time they'd heard Charles' over-the-top rant of villainy.

"And then he says it's a good thing Clovis is dead." Chiba tested the words aloud, finding they made no more sense when spoken than they did in thought. "How could anyone support a man who doesn't even care about his own children?"

Gino shrugged.

"I always thought he was just trying to be positive."

"Poor Prince Clovis," Lloyd drawled, finally done giggling, if only for the moment. "He's probably rolling in his grave."

From the front row Rivalz sniggered to himself, offering a facetious quip.

"And here I thought my parents were bad for making me pay my own tuition."

Chiba wasn't listening, instead still processing Charles' thesis.

"And what about saying equality is wrong? What do you Britannians think about that?"

"Hm," Gino considered after a moment. "Well, he's not wrong, I don't think."

"You don't think people should be equal?" Chiba glared at Gino through the slits of her now hate-narrowed eyes, daring him to confirm his position. Luckily for him, he didn't have to, Kaguya quickly coming to his rescue.

"I think what Sir Weinberg means to say is he agrees people aren't all equally capable. This is actually true, but the problem with Charles' ideology is that he advocates treating people differently based on those inequalities, real or perceived, rather than affording everyone a basic level of respect. And that's what we really mean by equality - equality under the law. It's absolutely fallacious for him to say equality is treating everyone the same. I'm honestly surprised so few Britannians saw through his strawmen."

Chiba had nothing to say in reponse to Kaguya's examination of Charles' words. She was a soldier, not a debater, and the majority of what the younger woman said simply went over her head. There were some hums of acknowledgement from around the room though, several other members of the audience understanding where Chiba did not. Charles' argument had been valid, but unsound, and it was only through long years of indoctrination into his own personal brand of Social Darwinism that his people accepted it as absolute truth.

And just like that, the screen went black as another episode came to an end, only to light up once more as the next one began.

 **It was the year 2009 a.t.b. when Lelouch vi Britannia made an appearance before his father, the Emperor, to demand justice for the death of his mother Marianne. The prince, still just a boy, marched purposefully into the Great Hall along a blood red carpet, flanked by throngs of nobles and courtiers, and despite their whispers he kept his view forward and his expression firm. He shut out the gossip, ignored the hurtful words spoken behind his back:**

 **"I heard that Empress Marianne was killed inside of the Britannian palace."**

 **"There's no way terrorists could've gotten in there."**

 **"Which means that the real assassins must've been-"**

Kallen wasn't alone in her surprise at the flashback displayed onscreen, nor the information that had somehow eluded her about Lelouch all this time. She checked around her, and aside from Sayoko, Kaguya, and Tohdoh, none of the non-Britannians looked like they had any idea what was going on onscreen, and just as many Britannians didn't either. The Royal Family was enormous, Charles having almost a hundred wives and just as many children, and deaths among them were frequent, so it was no wonder why Marianne's assassination barely seemed worth noting at the time, much less so eight years later. Hearing about it now though, for her very first time, Kallen got to thinking.

"Nunnally, is that true?"

The Britannian Empress nodded gravely.

"It is. I was there at the time." She paused and put a hand to her head, old and conflicting memories about that night mashing together in her mind. "At least, I think so."

"That doesn't make sense though. Terrorists always have a big goal of forcing a change in society. What could they gain by killing your mom?"

Cornelia narrowed her eyes as she shot a venomous glance at Kallen on the other side of the aisle. Jeremiah raised a brow and sat back in his seat, curious to hear more of the girl's thoughts on the matter. Anya only smirked, feeling quite superior for being the only one in the room to know the full story.

 **"It's over," a hushed voice within the crowd continued. "And the Ashford family who stood behind them is finished as well."**

Milly's brow furrowed in concern. Once again her memories disagreed with the truth. She really had known Lelouch way back then, hadn't she? And the reason the Ashfords were no longer a Noble House was because they'd supported the vi Britannias within the Emperor's court. The blonde thought back, her recollection of that time seeming more blurred now than she ever remembered it to have been before. Why _was_ her grandpa Ruben's title revoked? Milly honestly couldn't say she knew. She was sure she used to know, but for whatever reason...

 **"Hail, Your Majesty," Lelouch greeted, "my mother, the Empress, is dead."**

 **Charles glared down from his throne.**

 **"Old news. What of it?"**

The audience went silent, and Rivalz was the first to respond, his jaw dropping in shock.

"Dude..."

At the back, Sayoko and Anya placed a hand each on Jeremiah's shoulders, stopping him from rising in his seat to scream in rage, already knowing fully what his response would be to such callous words.

"Why, that vile, awful, horrible, unfeeling...!" Jeremiah began to curse, and even as the scene continued before him he didn't stop.

 **"What of it?" Lelouch attempted to confirm, just as astonished by the Emperor's words, earning a short and dismissive reply from him.**

 **"You sought an audience with the Emperor of Britannia simply to inform me of that?"**

 **Lelouch was shaken by his father's response, but he had to try again. Charles was the most powerful man in the world, so keeping one woman safe should have been as easy task for him. It would be as simple as making one call to the right person and no harm would befall Marianne. And yet that's not what happened. Marianne was dead and her daughter was permanently crippled, and the man wouldn't even go to visit Nunnally while she recovered.**

 **"I have no use for that weakling," Charles spat.**

Nunnally could hardly believe her ears, and she shook her head in horror at what she was witnessing for the first time. It was true, she knew she couldn't be useful to the Emperor, and even after being brought back to Britannia it was only once she volunteered to be the Viceroy of Area 11 that he paid her any mind, but to hear him, her own father, so casually reject her, was new for the current Empress.

"L-l-lelouch..." she stammered to herself, her thoughts swirling out of control. "Why? Why didn't you tell me that Father...?"

The answer became apparent to the girl almost immediately. Lelouch had shielded her - from their father spurning her, and then from the world, over and over. A tremble ran down Nunnally's arms and through her fingers, and she fought to keep her whole body from shaking as the weight of her realization hit her once again. She knew that Lelouch had protected her, but she never knew from just how much, and from what.

Zero meanwhile was clutching at the sides of his theatre chair, and any second now he was sure he was going to crush them in his grip. His jaw was clenched tight and his teeth were bared, and he felt a twitch at his eye from the rage beginning to take him. He, too, never knew about this exchange between Lelouch and his father. Lelouch had told him that he and Nunnally had been thrown away, and back then Zero, no, Suzaku, had believed his friend. Back then Suzaku hadn't understood how Lelouch could hate anyone so much as he did Charles, the prince keeping quite silent on the details of his grudge, but now, seeing it for himself, Zero thought he finally understood.

 **The young Lelouch was as outraged as the audience watching these past events, and he screamed his indignation, attempting to renounce his title as prince and finally goading Charles into action.**

 **"You are dead," he said simply, not moving from his throne. "You have always been dead to me, dead from the moment you were born."**

This was the breaking point for Gino. He'd been on the fence about whether Charles was actually in the wrong or not, but now his mind was made up. He could see the Emperor being too busy to discuss the death of his wife with his son. He could see why Nunnally was being more or less thrown away since she had no use. But this was too much. Gino believed in the bond of father and son, the same bond he shared with his own father, and seeing Charles' outright contempt for Lelouch convinced him once and for all.

"No way..." he murmured to himself, lost in a myriad of conflicting emotions and memories. He'd been a loyal Knight of the Round Table for Charles once, but this new evidence threw all the respect he had for the late king out the window. It felt like a veil had been lifted from his eyes and he could finally see clearly for the first time. He thought back on the policies and edicts that had come out of the Charles regime and wondered at how anyone could have gone along with them, nevermind _approve_ of them. Gino couldn't fathom it. How? How could he have been so blind? Was it his thirst for glory that allowed him to look past Charles' moral failings? Or was it all the easy living as the son of a baron, keeping him ignorant? "Damn him... Damn Charles! Was that really the man Dorothea and Monica _died_ for!?"

 **"Lelouch, you are dead, therefore you are not entitled to any rights." The flashback faded into the future while Charles spoke, ending on the image of Lelouch, sitting on his bed in the dark, head down, stewing in the unrestricted depths of his hate. "I am sending you and Nunnally to Japan. As Prince and Princess you will serve well as bargaining tools."**

Guilford glanced over to Cornelia beside him and saw an odd look in her eye. She seemed to be angry, but different from usual it was only directed at Charles, and not Lelouch. If anything, the way she tensed the muscles in her face and the position of her brows suggested she had only sympathy for her brother, her hate for him temporarily forgotten.

Cornelia understood. She knew exactly what Lelouch had been feeling when he went before the Imperial Court, and she was well-acquainted with the boundless, protective fury he must have been feeling because of Nunnally. She had feared for Euphemia's safety on multiple occasions exactly _because_ of Lelouch's interaction with their shared father. She knew just how easily Charles could abandon his own children, and didn't dare cross him so long as Euphie was still under his roof. She could empathize with Lelouch, could truly understand the lasting hate that burned within him so bright and eternal it eventually took him with it at the end of Zero's sword.

It was an odd sensation to once again feel something akin to compassion for her brother, and for a moment Cornelia wasn't sure if she could even go back to hating him. His behaviour was making more sense with every episode, the only thing left unexplained being why he would become a tyrant just as bad as Charles. If Lelouch truly despised that heartlessness, why would he emulate it? As far as Cornelia could tell, there were only two options: Either he'd grown to love power the more of it he got, or else he fell into despair and lost what little sanity he was clinging to, gradually losing his grip on reality as black rage pulled at his mind and slowly ate him from the inside out.

Regardless what the cause though, Lelouch had done tremendous evil as the Demon Emperor, and even before that. Cornelia's opinion of him was changing, now seeing his end not only as justice being served but as a mercy killing, finally releasing him from years of mental degradation, but she could never forget what he did before that point. If anything, with all this new insight, assassinating Lelouch had been even more necessary and right. What happened to him was monstrous, and so he became a monster.

"You know," Rakshata considered amidst the dumbstruck silence of the audience, "Charles didn't accept it when Lelouch forfeited his title."

Kallen blinked as she thought on this.

"You're right. Then, that means he was always a prince, even when we knew him, because even though he said he renounced his title it wasn't official!"

Nunnally and Cornelia began to add to the subject, having personal knowledge on the matter, but Tohdoh and Xingke weren't listening. They looked to each other, once again sharing a conversation with a mere glance. It was obvious now, even moreso than it had been before. Lelouch's goals were multifarious, and even with this perfect look at his hidden life, neither man was sure they would be able to pick up on all of them. This also threw into question why he became the Demon Emperor. Up until this point, they'd thought it was just because Lelouch wanted power and was willing to manipulate and slaughter his way to the top. But the true reason could in fact have been something different, or even a number of reasons that no other man could ever begin to comprehend.

 **Back in the present, Cornelia and Lloyd were discussing the Lancelot in the ASEEC knightmare labs, and nearby Suzaku was with C** **écile** **.**

 **"Sorry you have to sit here watching me do my homework," he said, jotting down answers on a reading guide for his history class.**

 **C** **écile didn't mind. In fact, she was quite curious how he was doing. For whatever reason, she was worried about how Suzaku was fitting in at a Britannian school. Luckily for him, he explained, he ran into an old friend who smoothed things over for him.**

 **Cécile smiled.**

 **"Be sure you never take that friend for granted."**

Zero sighed behind his mask. At first he thought watching these DVDs was going to be easy and everything would be about Lelouch, but no such luck. They were covering everything, especially Suzaku's slow descent, and it wasn't exactly pleasant for Zero to remember all his failings. Then he thought watching them might get easier as he came to terms with all the worst of what happened. But he could never predict these small moments, so quickly forgotten, that seemed to pop out of nowhere and twist the knife of regret even deeper in his side.

Who had forsaken who first? Had Lelouch abandoned Suzaku? Or was it Suzaku who renounced their friendship first? Zero honestly couldn't remember. It would be just one more thing he'd have to pay attention to as the Truth continued to play onscreen in all its gruesome detail. But no matter if it was him or Lelouch, the fact was he was still guilty of giving up on their friendship, and no amount of punishment or acts of virtue as Zero could absolve him of that.

 **C** **écile offered Suzaku some food.**

"NO!" Lloyd screamed from the front row in horror, causing Cécile right next to him to cross her arms and cast an insulted glare his way. "Don't do it, Suzaku!"

 **Suzaku took a bite from the rice ball, lovingly crafted to remind him of his heritage by the ever eager C** **écile, and cringed.**

 **"I just happened to get some lovely blueberries," she explained happily.**

The Japanese in the audience sank in their seats in disgust but otherwise didn't bother to voice their thoughts at Cécile's _i_ _nteresting_ cuisine. All except Sayoko.

"Hm. That doesn't sound so bad." She turned to Anya and Jeremiah. "What do you think about blueberry jam rice balls for a snack when we get home?"

The Orange and Pink Knights whispered to each other in short deliberation before replying as one.

"Make it marmalade and strawberry and we have a deal."

 **"Alright everyone," Lloyd announced, coming back from his meeting with Cornelia, "pack it up, pack it up, we're done today. Don't do any more." He flapped his arms and squealed: "Hip hip HOO-RA~Y!"**

"Ugh," Tamaki shivered, looking over at Lloyd and seeing the self-satisfied grin on his face, quickly cheered right back up from the sight of his 'favourite character.' "And here I thought he couldn't get any gayer."

 **Back in the Student Council room Kallen and Shirley were setting up Arthur the Cat's new cat house, and out of the blue Shirley decided to field a question to the other girl.**

 **"Kallen, are you hiding something from us? If it's nothing too personal."**

 **Kallen had a bad feeling about this.**

 **"No," she answered hesitantly, using her best sick-girl voice. "What are you talking about?"**

 **"You can tell me. I promise I won't be shocked or upset." Shirley paused, as if to decide how to approach the topic. "Well, the thing is, I happened to see you before."**

 **Yep. Kallen was right. This was definitely not good. She pulled out her knife-purse.**

"I keep saying it," Gino laughed, not bothered at all that Kallen's past self was about to murder someone to keep her identity secret, "but damn, this spy stuff is sexy!"

Tamaki groaned and looked away, putting a hand over his eyes so he didn't see the underage girls onscreen.

"And those skirts... Good grief! Who designed those!?"

In quick reply to the rhetorical question, a small cackle of delight came from somewhere in the front row.

 **Shirley turned, red-faced in embarrassment, and just got straight to the point.**

 **"You're going out with Lulu, right!?"**

 **Kallen gawked.**

 **"Lulu?"**

 **"The other day I saw you outside!"**

 **"Ah, no no no no!" The redhead got up in a tizzy, her knife safely hidden inside the folds of her yellow school outfit. "That was all his doing!"**

 **"His doing?"**

 **"No, wait! It wasn't like that."**

 **Shirley was unconvinced.**

 **"I don't get it. You were trying so hard to catch the cat before!"**

 **"No, that wasn't it! Besides it's not like we kissed or anything."**

 **"Or anything?" At this, Shirley reeled back, aghast. "Then you stopped short of** _ **doing it**_ **?"**

 **"Would you quit imagining things!? You don't understand the circumstances one bit!"**

Everyone in the theatre sat in a stunned silence, then at last Guilford spoke.

"What are we _watching_ right now?"

 **Elsewhere in the school Milly was on the phone with a very insistent parent.**

 **"... but an arranged marriage is so..."**

A tiny croak of a whine came from Rivalz from one side of Milly, and from the other came a boisterous chuckle from Lloyd.

"It seems this is an episode about romance, Gilly! Clearly, love can bloom even in the most dangerous of times." The silver-haired scientist grinned to his once-fiancée. "Too bad it didn't work out in the end though, right, Milly, dear?"

Milly frowned, looking down and not meeting Lloyd's cheerful gaze, then eventually answered.

"Yeah. It's... It's too bad."

"Hm? I thought we put our break-up behind us. Don't tell me you still have hard feelings about that whole affair?"

Rivalz blinked in sudden dismay and Milly looked up in surprise, the blue of her eyes locking with Lloyd's own behind his spectacles. The clueless man was peering at her, or rather, through her, like he was trying to spot the ills of her very soul. Apparently he was under the impression she still had feelings for him, wrongfully assuming she even had feelings for him in the first place.

'Well,' Milly considered to herself, shaking her head and smiling before looking back at the screen, 'not entirely wrongfully.'

 **Cornelia's forces were on the move, preparing to surround the Saitama Ghetto to flush out another terrorist faction, this time the Yamato Alliance, even broadcasting the time and location of the operation on the news. And for whatever reason, the tactics and forces she'd prepared were an exact copy of Clovis' battle in Shinjuku.**

 **"Zero is a criminal with a flair for the theatrical," Cornelia explained to her men from her command throne in her G1 mobile HQ. "I've recreated the same conditions that existed in Shinjuku in order to draw him out. If he's the overconfident type I predict he'll come here to try and kill me."**

Chiba scowled and Tohdoh's face hardened, but Xingke's face split into a half-smirk.

"Clever." He looked to Rivalz. "Hey, Mister Cardemonde, put down my second-favourite character as Cornelia."

Cornelia raised a brow, not sure if she should be flattered, and from his spot a row ahead of her Rivalz did the same before complying, pulling out his phone and typing in a series of keys.

"If she's second, who's your number one favourite?" he questioned innocently.

Xingke looked down to Tianzi beside him and smiled.

"Why, Jiang Lihua, of course."

Tianzi's face brightened and her lips parted in a wide grin, and she threw her slender arms around Xingke's own, nuzzling against him. Rivalz didn't notice the touching moment though. He scratched at his head.

"Who?"

 **Lelouch found out about Cornelia's plan, just as Cornelia intended, and with a small smile, almost like he was excited, he pulled out the armour he'd stolen back in Shinjuku and laid it out across his room's floor. C.C. was on his bed, and as she spoke with him the camera panned over her lithe frame.**

 **"You're not falling for the enemy's provocation?" she said with only a hint of incredulity.**

 **Lelouch quipped back.**

 **"They went to such trouble to invite me though! Besides, there's something I'd like to ask Cornelia personally."**

 **"Destroying Britannia or discovering who murdered your mother. Which is more important to you?"**

 **"The two are of equal of importance."**

Chiba rolled her eyes at what she was seeing.

"What an arrogant brat. He couldn't destroy Britannia so he decided to just take it over instead. I bet by the end he didn't even care who killed his mother."

Cornelia knew that wasn't the case. She wasn't able to remember him asking her that very question during the Black Rebellion, since she answered under the influence of Geass, but she knew her brother, and she knew he wouldn't abandon his search for the truth. Perhaps he only took over the Empire _because_ he learned the answer to that question. Before she could correct Chiba though, Nunnally paused the video and answered first.

"You take that back."

Everyone turned to look at Nunnally, sitting in the center of the aisle with a sharp scowl on her lips, made more menacing by the mere fact that she was usually so gentle. She repeated, in no uncertain terms, exactly what she wanted, nay, what she demanded:

"You take that back about my brother right this instant."

Chiba was flabbergasted, and she hesitated to reply, but then Tohdoh joined in.

"Chiba," he grunted, leaving no room for argument, "answer the Empress."

"I... But I...!"

Chiba couldn't process what was going on. They were sticking up for Lelouch? Even Tohdoh? But why? She just couldn't understand it. Even so, she didn't like being the focus of attention, and historically it was dangerous to be on a monarch's bad side...

"Yes..." The warrior woman bowed her head and submitted. "I take it back. I'm sorry, Your Highness."

Nunnally didn't look away from Chiba for a long moment, continuing to glare at her, until finally she returned her gaze to the screen and raised her remote, pressing the PLAY button.

 **Lelouch and C.C. were debating about the ethics of survival of the fittest, in C.C.'s case merely testing the prince to learn more about his character, but in Lelouch's case, taking it quite seriously.**

 **"Should I simply give up on my sister because she's frail!? I refuse to accept that! I'll wipe out that sort of world** _ **myself**_ **."**

 **There was a click, and Lelouch looked to his bedroom door to find C.C. was standing in front of it, a pistol in her hand and aimed right for him.**

Everyone knew Lelouch survived the encounter somehow, so it wasn't really worth getting worked up over, but Kallen hadn't spoken for a while, and this was just the kind of thing that got her angry.

"Pizza-bitch, what are you _doing_!?"

"Look at that," Gino exclaimed suddenly. "She was on the bed in one second, then the next she's all the way over there!"

Rakshata let out a long laugh.

"Super-soldier speed. Remember?"

 **"You can't go, Lelouch," C.C. said, finality in her tone. "You need to fulfill your part of our bargain, so I won't have you dying before that."**

 **The Black Prince only smirked back.**

 **"Notice that what you're saying and what you're doing are contradictory."**

 **"Oh, I won't kill you. I'm merely going to shoot you in the leg to quiet you down."**

Tianzi gasped, forcing Xingke to once again comfort her. Lloyd chuckled from the other side of the aisle.

"Right, because shooting him in the leg is LOTS better than shooting anywhere else. It's not like he could bleed out just as easily, or anything."

Anya hummed in thought, seemingly taking things seriously for once.

"It's counterproductive anyway. Have you ever seen a man who's been shot in the leg?" Or not so serious, as it turned out. "They're not very quiet. You might say they're the opposite of that."

 **Lelouch confirmed that C.C. didn't have a Geass of her own then drew his own pistol, the two of them locked in a Mexican standoff, weapons trained on each other.**

"Hey!" Villetta pointed at the screen in dismay. "That's my gun! He's still got my gun, that little brat!"

"That weapon killed Prince Clovis," Jeremiah reminded his old friend. "If you could have it back, would you really want it?"

"Well, when you put it like that..."

 **"Do you honestly think you can threaten me with a gun?" C.C. wondered.**

 **It was stange. Even knowing he couldn't harm her, Lelouch still drew his weapon. The chance of violence occuring was skyrocketting the longer things went on. Yet Lelouch only smiled, answering his Contractor's question with a smooth reply.**

 **"Yes I do."**

 **He put his gun to his temple.**

The audience really didn't know what to say to that one. Only a few people said anything, and it was all the same single-word reponse, not a query, but a mere, flat statement:

"What."

 **Lelouch gave the explanation that was so sorely needed to explain just what in the hell he was thinking.**

 **"Until I met you I was dead - an impotent corpse existing behind a false guise of life, a life in which I did nothing real. Day to day I merely went through the motions of living as if I were a zombie. And I always had the feeling that I was gradually dying. If I'm condemned to go back to that then I'd rather..."**

 **He began to pull the trigger.**

 **"STOP IT!" C.C. lowered her gun in defeat. "I see now: It's life without meaning. And a life like that..."**

"Is that...?" Nunnally began to herself in a whisper. "Is that what you really thought about having a normal life with me, Lelouch?"

"He understood," Kallen muttered. "He wasn't content to stand by and let the world move without him. Just like me."

The redhead remembered. She could've lived a happy life as a Britannian, but she refused that future in favour of one she built for herself as her own person. And Lelouch did the same. They - Kallen and Lelouch - were the same.

 **The scene shifted abruptly to Saitama and a man being shot dead by a Britannian soldier.**

It was jarring for the entire audience to change scene so drastically and so suddenly, but not everyone was equally disturbed. Civilians like Rivalz or Nina cringed in horror as the man fell limp to the asphalt, leaking red from several holes in his torso, but the more professional soldiers such as Xingke, Guilford, or Tohdoh barely reacted at all. Ohgi was incensed, but successfully held himself back. Kallen and Tamaki weren't quite so successful.

The two redheads went tense in their seats and narrowed their eyes at the wanton slaughter of their countrymen - innocents - men, women, and children.

Cornelia looked on disinterestedly. She already knew she was going to get critisized for her operation Saitama.

"It's in the past. Just get over it."

This may not have been the best choice of words for the princess, and Kallen hurled her immediate retort.

"Somehow you saying that only makes me even more pissed off!"

"Yeah!" Tamaki slapped Kallen on the shoulder proudly. "You tell 'er, Kallen!"

Cornelia huffed, not at all in the mood for this.

"Yelling at me now won't bring them back, so why don't you just stop wasting your breath?"

"Okay now," Cécile interrupted, using her most authoritative voice. "Everyone simmer down."

Kallen wasn't listening.

"You really don't care about what you did, do you?"

"If you mean to say I don't mourn every single person I sentence to death," Cornelia replied to the redhead simply, "then you're right. I don't care."

"You are such a piece of shit!"

Sitting right next to Cornelia, Nina was beginning to feel very unsafe.

"C-c-come on, guys, l-let's all be rational about this..."

From the front row Lloyd turned around to stare incredulously at the tiny girl, peering at her over the top of his glasses.

"Oh, that's a _funny_ one coming from you."

"Ya know," Kallen continued, throwing her arms out grandiosely and getting herself more worked up every second, "I'm actually missing Clovis right now! Couldn't Lelouch have killed you instead of him?"

Guilford stood up to defend his princess's honour.

"Hold your tongue, girl!"

Tamaki stood up to defend his friend.

"Hey! Don't you talk that way to Kallen!"

 **Luckily for the Jeremiah of the future, watching these events play out onscreen and not earning the ire of the others in the theatre, his past self and the rest of the Purebloods were assigned as the rear guard, much to his displeasure at the time. They stood together in a single rank of knightmares, and as Jeremiah vented his frustrations at his lost prestige and honour, Villetta considered to herself:**

 **'Zero. Could that student be working with him?'**

Kaguya was just about to ask how long Villetta knew about Lelouch being Zero before another clip of mayhem played, explosions throwing bodies around and removing limbs, and the flash of gunfire turning the whole screen white as dozens more Elevens were murdered without offering any resistance.

"THAT'S IT!" Kallen had had enough, and she shot up from her seat, Tamaki quickly moving in close to support her.

Everyone turned to face the two redheads in confusion, and from the other side of the aisle Gino and Cornelia stood too, sensing what was about to happen. In the back row Sayoko and Jeremiah glanced to each other and nodded once each.

"Jeremiah...!" the ninja-maid called, jumping from her seat and starting in a sprint toward the center rows. The cyborg wasn't far behind.

"Let's move!"

Anya just sat back in her seat in dull surprise and shrugged.

"I'll just sit here, I guess..."

Kallen had started into a run to get to Cornelia, the one who'd ordered the purge of Saitama, Tamaki close behind, their blood running hot and their minds filled with nothing but the desire for vengeance. It's true they knew what happened in that particular ghetto that day, but they never realized just how brutish it'd truly been. Back then, they'd only had numbers of dead and wounded, amount of equipment lost, members of the resistance lost, and other impersonal things - statistics. Nothing more.

But this... This was real and visceral, worse even than Shinjuku by an order of magnitude. Cornelia said it herself: Clovis hadn't intended to kill everyone in Shinjuku, and purposely attempted to avoid casualties. Burning the whole place to the ground had been his Plan C. But Cornelia attacked Saitama specifically to kill, innocents even more than actual resistance members, knowing the senseless death would infuriate Zero and cause him to come to the rescue.

Not for the first time that day, Kallen was actually sorry Clovis was dead and Cornelia was still alive instead. She'd make sure the Witch of Britannia joined her brother.

Nunnally looked back and forth between Kallen and Cornelia in shock.

"What're you doing? Stop! Stop right now!"

"Whoa, Kallen," Zero stood up and raised his hands, trying to calm the girl now rushing at him on her way to Cornelia's section of the theatre. She didn't so much as slow down.

"I am so DONE with you!"

Zero felt his eyes twitch and could hear a whisper at the back of his mind, and without meaning to, rather than standing between Kallen and the warrior princess, he turned to flee.

Kallen leapt into the air and delivered a spinning kick to make Suzaku proud directly into Zero's back, throwing him clear over Nunnally's wheelchair and sprawling over the seats of the other aisle. It was an effective attack, but for Kallen, it was just plain satisfying seeing Zero get a taste of his own signiture move. Too bad her red thirst for violence hadn't been sated yet.

Cornelia took up a defensive posture, Guilford taking up a similar position as best he could in the confined space between rows of theatre chairs. The Purple Witch spat in fury, not caring who was attacking her or why.

"Have at you, knave!"

"Hey!" Against his better judgement Gino had decided to get involved as well, and he raised his fists as Kallen came close. "C'mon, back off, Kallen! I don't want to fight you!"

The blood was pumping in Kallen's veins, rushing behind her eardrums so all she heard was the thump of wardrums, driving her toward the attack. All she could see was red.

"Yeah?" she laughed as she closed the distance between herself and the Knight, practically gliding toward her target, the awkwardness of the theatre rows not seeming to affect her assault whatsoever. "Well, I'm in the mood to _fight you_!"

She pulled back a fist and let it fly, her knuckles hammering into one of Gino's raised arms, blocking the strike from hitting his face. He countered, loosing his own fist only for Kallen to catch it with her other hand. She drew her left leg back and pounded it into the blonde's side then flipped him out of her way, over the row of seats and onto Milly and Rivalz's laps before he could even register the sudden pain coursing through his body.

"I used to wish I could do this to you all the time," she snarled to Cornelia, making the last strides past a cowering Nina to get into range.

"I DID do this to you people all the time," Cornelia growled back.

The two women reached their fists back and stepped forward to attack. Then...

Kallen stopped as she felt the point of a knife at her throat. Sayoko was in front of her, armed with a kunai and glaring the redhead down.

Cornelia stopped as a massive body of flesh and steel appeared in front of her, Jeremiah, both golden arm-blades extended from his wrists, cutting her off from advancing any further.

Almost everyone was shouting, and most the audience were out of their seats, and they either gathered at the corners of the room to avoid getting involved or were running as fast as they could to come and break up the fight. Ohgi was the first to file into the row behind Tamaki, and he took hold of his friend's shoulders, yelling some nonsense at him and trying to pull him back.

"Now," Sayoko began calmly, a razor edge to her tone, "everyone's going to sit back down and go back to watching the show." Her eyes darted around. "Understood?"

Kallen's eyes were slits and her teeth were bared like a ferocious red hound, but at length she relaxed and turned to grudgingly go back to her seat in silence. Tamaki wasn't as easy to persuade though, still wanting to get in at least one punch on _someone_ before everyone calmed down, and he turned around and slugged Ohgi across the cheek.

"Wha-?" the Japanese Prime Minister questioned as he fell flat onto his bottom. "Tamaki, what the HELL!? Why'd you hit _me_?"

Tamaki threw out his arms in a challenging pose, as if daring his friend to get up and see what might happen.

"Because I felt like it!"

Jeremiah pushed past Sayoko and Kallen and poked Tamaki with his arm-blade.

"Alright, alright, that's enough out of you. Get back to your seat or they're going to have to rename me the Knight of Red for how much of your blood I'll spill!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Slowly but surely order was restored to the theatre, Kallen and Tamaki sitting back down and Zero, Gino, and Ohgi dusting themselves off before going back to their spots too. The other members of the audience trickled back to their seats as well, leaving Cornelia, Guilford, Sayoko, and Jeremiah as the last people standing.

"Sit down, Princess," Jeremiah commanded, harsh and cruel. "You too, Guilford."

"Gottwald..." Cornelia started through clenched teeth. "How dare you!?"

Jeremiah retracted his arm-blades and shoved Cornelia down into her chair, quite displeased that his good mood from the Cat Hunt had been so thoroughly ruined.

"I don't work for you anymore, Princess. I'll acknowledge your title, and I'll always respect you for your accomplishments, but Lelouch is the only one I'll ever bow for again. So don't think you can pull rank or bully me with bravado. That goes for you too, Guilford, old buddy, old pal."

Sayoko had somehow transported herself back to her seat in the back row without anyone seeing it, and that left only Jeremiah to thump his way back to sit with her.

Nunnally looked around. This really turned into a mess quick. This was what happened after not seven episodes. And there were still more than 40 left...

"Does everyone remember?" she sighed eventually. "I had the guards confiscate your weapons at the door because I was afraid something like that might happen."

Xingke raised a brow.

"Why didn't they take _their_ weapons?"

"They were supposed to..."

Sayoko flashed a deceivingly pleasant smile.

"A shinobi never reveals where she keeps her knives."

Jeremiah raised an arm and popped one of his arm-blades into place so everyone could see it.

"These don't come out. Don't ask why I have them."

Nunnally nodded and sighed again, long and frustrated, and raised her remote to rewind back through everything they'd missed in the chaos.

"Now, if everyone's calmed down...?"

 **Lelouch had snuck into Saitama in his stolen armour, and as he overlooked the battle from the top of a ruined building a Sutherland shot up from below, using its slash harkens as grappling hooks.**

 **"What unit are you from?" the pilot demanded through his knightmare's speakers. "** **Your unit name and ID, soldier!"**

 **With the power of Geass at his command, stealing the fool's frame was perhaps the easiest thing Lelouch had done all day.**

 **As for the terrorist cell residing in Saitama, as Cornelia closed in on them they hid in the bombed out office building that was their home, falling into a panic.**

 **"It's hopeless."**

 **"Can't we break through along the Saikyo Line?"**

 **"They've got armour blocking it."**

 **"We can't use backroads either."**

 **"Any reinforcements from Akabane or Jujo?"**

 **"One man might get through, but not a group."**

 **The members of the Yamato Alliance were ragged and undisciplined, and they babbled amongst themselves in a blind frenzy of terror. Then one of their members ran in with an unnatural focus in his every move and a barely perceptible ring of orange around his irises.**

 **"Izumi!" He presented a radio, and a voice came through, strong and absolute.**

 _ **"This is Zero."**_

"Whoa, hey," Rivalz began, slightly confused. "I thought Lelouch was working with your group, Kallen."

Kallen didn't answer, still in the process of cooling off from her attempt on Cornelia's life, so Rakshata did instead.

"It would seem the old Zero was still only window shopping for troops at that point."

 **Zero gave his oath to the terrorists over the radio, his word as good as gold.**

 _ **"I assume all of you have heard about the Shinjuku incident. Do what I say and you will be saved."**_

 **The scene shifted to Cornelia's encirclement of the ghetto, and apparently everything was preceeding as planned. Then a two-knightmare team was lost from an RPG ambush.**

Gino had more or less recovered from being throttled by Kallen, and seeing the return of Zero's genius tactics his mood soared.

"Oh yeah!" He rubbed his hands together inexcitement. "Here we go!"

 **Lelouch's militia got straight to business.**

 **A tank was shot through.**

 **Two Britannian Sutherlands were blown to pieces by 'friendly fire.'**

 **An attack helicoptor was smashed by a slash harken.**

 **Another tank was hit by a Sutherland rifle's attached grenade launcher.**

 **The casualties were racking up, and to top it all off Lelouch ordered the bridge into the ghetto destroyed, killing every single enemy soldier on it, either dying in the explosion or drowning as they fell into the Arakawa River.**

The audience sat in silence as they watched Lelouch doing what he did best, even Tianzi appreciating the deadly efficiency the Black Prince was displaying. Words could not describe the sheer amazement they were feeling, absolutely sure from Lelouch's earlier exploits that he could not fail. Cornelia and Guilford knew better.

 **Aboard Cornelia's G1 one of the comm operators gave grim news.**

 **"Point 1-7 has fallen! Hally Team: Contact lost."**

 **"That's enough," Cornelia said suddenly. "Order all troops to fall back. Further damage and casualties serve no point."**

Lloyd nodded to himself.

"If you'd used my Lancelot, Princess, that battle would have been won in a jiffy."

Cornelia smirked.

"Keep watching."

The audience didn't know quite what to make of Cornelia's order, but Xingke and Tohdoh each raised a brow, pushing their minds to decipher her strategy. It didn't make sense so far. She had ample troops left over, and the Yamato Alliance was made up of cowardly civilians, so in theory the Witch of Britannia could have pressed her numbers advantage and routed them within perhaps an hour's time. Of course, full-on urban warfare was exactly the worst possible end for this conflict, with the possibility of ambush around every corner, so it was quite fortunate for Cornelia that she didn't care about the infrastructure of Saitama. The most logical decision for her would be to simply carpet bomb everywhere that wasn't under her control, then comb the remains with an infantry battalion.

Yet, that's not what happened.

Tohdoh knew the Yamato Alliance was destroyed from reports received from Kyoto, which meant Kaguya knew the eventual end of this battle as well, but how the end was achieved was still a mystery.

Xingke hummed in amusement as he figured out Cornelia's plan.

"Cornelia's definitely my second favourite." He glanced back at the princess and nodded. "I see what you did there."

 **Lelouch was just as confused as the audience when an order came through on his pilfered knightmare's comm to retreat. Still though, it could only be a good thing for him, because now he had an excuse to roll right up to Cornelia's G1 and go in there and kill her, hidden in plain sight - after questioning her with Geass first though, of course.**

 **The scene changed, the camera briefly panning over C.C.'s still form, resting once again on Lelouch bed, and strangest of all, talking to herself.**

"So," Rivalz added unhelpfully, "we're sure she's a super-soldier. Does that also explain why she's a complete loony?"

Rakshata started to ponder that question while Anya giggled her dark reply, only half-joking.

"Don't _you_ hear the voices _too_?"

 **Shirley was pretty bothered by her talk with Kallen, and while the secret rebel had already left the Student Council room Suzaku had come and replaced her. He attempted to play with Arthur, but the cat wasn't happy to see him, so eventually he gave up and listened as Shirley recounted a tale.**

 **It was a simple story about something she saw once. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time to spot Lelouch helping an elderly couple deal with a traffic accident, and it was from that that her interest in the aloof Student Council Vice-President was sparked. She fell in love as she learned more about him, but more than that, she seemed to really believe in the goodness within Lelouch that he kept locked away from discerning eyes.**

Zero remembered that conversation. He remembered what it was like to see Lelouch in only a positive light, just like Shirley had. It seemed to him that at some point he'd gotten caught up in fighting and jostling to secure the rank of Knight of One, and somehow forgotten who Lelouch truly was underneath the cold mask. He'd forgotten Lelouch's virtues, seeing only the negatives. But Shirley hadn't forgotten. She focussed on what was important, all the way to the very end. Going back to the beginning like this, and seeing every perspective and every detail, Zero was reminded of how selfless Lelouch had been, and now he wondered if he was going to finally see Lelouch in his entirety, as a whole person rather than just the sides he presented.

It was clear to Zero that his opinion of Lelouch was incomplete, but what wasn't clear, what nagged at the back of his mind, was if he even had it in him anymore to change that opinion after so long.

Most everyone was silent as the show continued, but Villetta let out a small groan of disgust. She didn't hate Shirley. It had been clear to her even from the start that she was just a normal girl who had nothing to do with the mess Zero brought upon Britannia. That being said, she still never fully forgave the orangette for shooting her, and Villetta wasn't looking forward to seeing _that_ on the big screen.

 **Lelouch joined the retreat in his stolen Sutherland and stopped in front of Cornelia's G1, as certain of his victory as she was of hers, when his cellphone rang.**

Ohgi scowled, irritated the prince was answering his phone right in the middle of a battle. He still wasn't quite over how easily Lelouch blended his personal and professional lives.

As for Zero, the masked hero almost felt like laughing. If he'd only known where Lelouch was when he - no, Suzaku - called from the Student Council room to ask if he liked Shirley... Honestly, he had no idea how he would've reacted, but for some reason he didn't think he'd be upset. He was actually pretty sure he would only be concerned and try to rush over to Saitama as fast as possible to help him - to help his best friend.

Chiba groaned from her spot in the front row.

"That stupid kid. He almost died in Shinjuku because of his phone ringing. You'd think he'd learn to not bring it with him before battles, or at least turn it off."

Way at the back Anya shouted in disgust, clutching her own phone to her breast protectively.

"NEVER!"

"Well." Chiba blinked in dull surprise and shook her head in disappointment with the one of the 'Greatest Knights in Britannia.' "At least he wasn't the only one who couldn't put his phone down."

"He actually doesn't use his phone much anymore."

"Huh?"

The pinkette looked away, realizing she'd said too much.

"NOTHING!"

 **Cornelia deployed her Royal Guard, and sensing the battle's approaching end, Lelouch gave one of his units an order through his knightmare's comm.**

 **"N1 will reengage their IFF signal. Operate as a Britannian unit-" he smirked as N1 sounded his confirmation, then finished his thought after turning off the radio, "-as my decoy."**

Cornelia let a gentle smile onto her lips as she translated Lelouch's order into its corresponding chess move.

"Good boy, Lelouch," she whispered proudly. She still couldn't bring herself to believe her brother was good, from start to finish, but she could at least acknowledge his tactical brilliance. "Very smart."

 **Cornelia wasn't falling for Lelouch's bait, and she sent out a three-knightmare team of Gloucesters, led by Guilford, her Knight of Honour himself, and together they speared the helpless N1's cockpit, killing the Eleven terrorist inside instantly.**

"Jeezus!" Tamaki balked at Cornelia's ruthlessness. "What if that was one of your own guys!?"

Cornelia anwered plainly.

"Then I would have written a letter of condolences to his family."

"You crazy bitch! People aren't pawns! You can't just expect them to do what they're told and get them killed like that!"

"Why not? It's their job. My soldiers lived because I allowed it. They died when I demanded it."

Ohgi pulled the discussion back a bit.

"I think the more pressing issue is how Lelouch made that man a target so you'd kill him and think you'd gotten Zero! If anyone was using people as pawns, it was Lelouch!"

 **"No confirmation?" Lelouch wondered once N1 perished. He was monitoring the Britannian comm chatter, and no report of killing Zero came through. His tactic had failed, so he tried something else. "Well then..."**

Tamaki stopped berating Cornelia for a second as onscreen Lelouch confirmed Ohgi's assertion. Up until this point, his respect for the Black Prince had been growing once again, and he'd almost forgotten all the sorrow and hurt that had come because of him during his years as Zero and beyond. The same deflating feeling was shared by almost all the other Black Knights too, and even many of the Britannians. The ones who took it hardest were the ones who liked Lelouch the most.

"Oh, grow a pair!" Cornelia growled. "How can you pathetic _worms_ call yourselves knights!? A knight's LIFE is to die. A commander's job is entirely to send them to places where they CAN die! Battles are won through sacrifice - by spending men's lives to purchase victory. That's what Lelouch was doing. If his plan had succeeded, he would have lost only one man, and potentially taken my life as a reward. I cannot, and will not, fault him for playing the best trick available to him."

The audience sat in stunned silence at Cornelia's outburst. Of all of them, she was among the most anti-Lelouch, yet still she stood up for him. It was unthinkable.

The most appalled at Cornelia's speech was Chiba, Cécile, Tamaki, and Ohgi, the rest either stone-faced in agreement or suitably cowed.

 **Lelouch tensed and began delivering orders in rapid succession, playing a game of cat and mouse with Cornelia's Royal Guard. His Yamato Alliance militia would lead them into an ambush, but at the last second they would always sniff out the trap and turn it in on itself, forcing him to change his plans.**

 **Minutes went by and neither side saw their enemy, always escaping from each other before the hammer fell and regrouping. The stress of it all was too much for the Yamato Alliance, and despite Lelouch's directions, which may yet have won the day for them, they surrendered.**

"IDIOTS!" Kallen and Jeremiah raged in unison at the Yamato Alliance onscreen, watching as they threw down their arms and left their knightmares, hands raised only to be gunned down without mercy.

Before anyone could lose their temper again Sayoko whistled, drawing everyone's attention to her. Her kunai was back in her hand, and she wagged it in front of her menacingly.

 **Before long, the entire Yamato Alliance was wiped out, and Cornelia revealed her checkmate.**

 _ **"Attention all knightmare pilots!"**_ **Cornelia's voice rang in Lelouch's cockpit.** _ **"Open your hatches and reveal your faces!"**_

Gino sank in his seat and pointed at the screen in horror, finally understanding Cornelia's plan.

"OH SHIT!"

"Well," Lloyd chuckled to himself, "I wonder how he gets out of this one."

 **Lelouch was finished. He'd followed the order to retreat hoping to slip through Cornelia's defences, but now he was surrounded, and as soon as the Britannians saw his face and didn't recognize him, he was as good as dead. Or worse.**

 **Guilford went to each pilot in the lineup as they opened their cockpits and checked their faces, and before long it was Lelouch's turn. He hesitated.**

Back in the present, Guilford harrumphed to himself.

"I knew there was something suspicious about that pilot."

 **Eventually, though he did so grudgingly, Lelouch began to comply with the order to reveal himself, when...**

 **"Zero's been sighted!"**

 **Lelouch looked at his HUD to see Zero standing atop a building dramatically, facing down Cornelia and all her men, unarmed. They opened fire and he swan dived, back-first, falling several flights down somewhere behind the building.**

Cornelia cocked her head to the side, utterly baffled by this turn, as beside her Guilford choked in fury.

"Who in the hell...!?"

Rivalz meanwhile breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whoever it was," Milly grinned, "they have perfect form."

Sharing the girl's smile, but for completely different reasons, Gino spoke up excitedly.

"Have I ever mentioned that the Zero costume is freakin' awesome? The formal suit's better than the jumpsuit though." He was met with bored glances and irritated glares. "Hey, sorry for having some levity!"

 **In all the chaos of sighting Zero, Lelouch managed to escape, hopping out of his knightmare and making for the nearest sewer grate.**

 **'That's how Cornelia is,' he thought to himself spitefully as he sprinted through the sewers. 'She's nothing at all like Clovis!'**

 **Lelouch stopped in his tracks as a dark figure appeared before him. He was supposed to be alone down there. Was he caught?**

 **As the figure approached, Lelouch could make out some details, first making note of its batlike cape, then its silk cravat, and finally its mirrored helm.**

 **He addressed Zero scornfully.**

 **"Why did you rescue me?"**

 **"I told you already," he replied simply, removing his mask and letting out a whole headful of green hair, showing his true identity to be none other than C.C. "I can't have you dying."**

 **"I wouldn't have lost if the conditions were equal!"**

 **"You sore loser." C.C. seemed to think this was all a game, and she tossed her mask up and down in her hands. "If you're really that good you should be able to set up conditions the way you want."**

 **Lelouch didn't take the strange girl's chiding well, and as the camera flashed to a closeup of his eyes, narrowed in fury, he made his declaration:**

 **"That's what I'll do, then! I'll set them up! I'll raise an army that can't lose to Britannia - OF PEOPLE! A NATION!"**

LLLLLLLLLLLL


	11. Entropy 9: (R1,8) Black Knights

**Entropy 9: (R1;8) The Black Knights**

As the episode ended, the audience remained silent, each person putting Lelouch's words into context as best they could. The Ashford group was awestruck at Lelouch's declaration, and at the back of the room Jeremiah had his one visible eye closed and was nodding to himself, seemingly quite pleased, like a father seeing the extent of his son's growth. On the other side of the aisle Kallen breathed a sigh and touched a hand to her breast in relief.

She'd made her decision already, that Lelouch was good from the start and had never strayed from that path, but it was still a pleasant feeling to have proof of it. He'd said it right there: The Black Knights weren't just a cudgel to be used to smash Britannia; from the start they'd always been intended to be a force with a moral core, people who chose to join up because they saw something in doing so - a better future that was worth fighting for.

Of course, there were still quite a few episodes left to go, and Kallen remembered how distant he'd been until after the Black Rebellion. Zero, Lelouch, had been more professional back then, keeping a safe distance from his soldiers, the unspoken agreement between commander and army that they would fight any battle for him so long as he led them to victory each time. It was a good arrangement, and perhaps it was because he eventually became more personal with the Black Knights that they were able to feel so betrayed when they found out his identity. Would they have brought him before a firing squad back in those early days when hope was scarce? So long as the relationship of Zero and his Knights was a business transaction, Kallen thought such an end was unlikely.

Gino, meanwhile, didn't seem at all interested in considering the implications of Lelouch's words, instead wiping his brow theatrically.

"Hoo! For a second there I was a little worried he wasn't going to make it out of that one!"

Anya leaned forward, placing her elbows on the back of the blonde knight's seat.

"Really?"

"Really. It's pretty easy to get lost in the moment and forget this actually happened. Especially since neither of us was around to see it personally."

From the front row came a long hum, Rivalz putting his mind to work on his own point of concern.

"He said he was going to 'set them up'. So he's saying he's just going to cheat?"

Anya and Gino glanced over to their blue-haired schoolmate as one, a look of befuddlement crossing their features.

"Don't be silly," the pinkette began. "There's no such thing as cheating in war."

Kaguya cocked her head and turned round to face the conversation.

"How would you even cheat at that anyway? It's not like there're rules."

"Hmph." Guilford crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. "Obviously, by using all the tricks and deceptions Zero was known for. Rather than trusting in direct combat where he was outmatched and outnumbered thousands to one, he used other tactics to ensure his victory."

"Right," Gino added helpfully, trying to answer the Japanese princess's question. "There may not be rules, but there's the code of chivalry. Lelouch definitely trampled those like it was going out of style."

Their answers didn't seem to change Kaguya's mind.

"That doesn't make it cheating. Besides, playing fair is a luxury only afforded by those with all the power."

Villetta frowned.

"What about using Geass to turn the enemy to his cause? I think that goes beyond fairness."

Cornelia scowled and spat under her breath.

"Or dropping a mountain on me?"

With a clearing of his throat, Xingke not-so-subtlely attempted to change the subject.

"It stands to reason this was the moment Lelouch decided to make the USJ. He must have been confidant in his endgame to plan that far ahead."

"That's one way of looking at it." While Xingke was willing to be charitable, Chiba wasn't. "But I'd say it's pretty cruel, getting the Japanese their freedom just so they'd fight for him."

She should have known better than to say that. In an instant Kallen was up, leaning over the empty seat in front of her and glaring the elder woman down with fire in her ice-blue eyes.

"SHUT UP! You don't know anything about him!"

"Kallen..." As soon as her name had left his mouth Kallen rounded to put her hate back onto Ohgi. He winced, knowing from the few arguments they'd already had that it was pointless to oppose her, but he pressed on anyway. "You don't think he was using us?"

"Maybe he was, but we were using him too. It was a good deal for both of us - Zero and the Japanese. I thought we agreed on that a long time ago."

"That was then. Are you really so sure he had our best interests in mind when he sent us out to fight? Or maybe he would've sacrificed all of us just to get his revenge on Britannia."

A thought passed through Kallen's mind - her and Zero together, then spotlights and guns. Her body tensed and her hands balled into fists.

"You mean just like you did to him!?"

"Oooh, this sounds interesting!" Somehow Lloyd always knew what to say to ruin the mood, all anger temporarily forgotten as every set of eyes locked onto the most carefree man in the room. "Do share. And if you decide to fight again let me know first so I can get in a good spot to watch."

Kallen's vision snapped back to Ohgi, punctuating it with a snarl, then back to Lloyd, then she sat back down in a huff.

"You're wrong. Lelouch cared more than that. I know it. I just..."

The crowd fell back into silence. Nunnally had paused the DVD, knowing all too well there was no point in letting it continue until everyone had some discussion out of their systems. She fiddled with the remote in her hands, feeling the texture of the hard plastic shell and the rubbery buttons strewn across it. She could deal with everyone becoming less civil seemingly by the minute, but her mind was still fixated on her brother, and the guilt and sorrow over his fate was far more effective at getting her down. Just going through the motions of touching something, to learn its shape with her fingers, was relaxing for her.

"He did care," she whispered, low enough she was sure no one could hear, not noticing Zero's masked head turn ever so slightly. "He cared too much."

"For what it's worth," Xingke offered finally, trying again to redirect everyone's focus back to the show, "freeing the Japanese would have been a strategic goal in defeating Britannia. Whether Lelouch cared about their freedom on a more personal level or not may be a tricky question to answer. It might just not be worth wondering until we see more of his actions and what he really thought."

He may as well have not even bothered. Just a few seats away Chiba growled at him in disgust as a tapping started at the back of the room.

"How can you think about people like that? Like they're just some piece on a board?"

Luckily for Xingke, Tohdoh came to the rescue, a cold lack of life in his eye, from living too long and seeing too much.

"To win a war you must not only defeat the enemy but also cut off their means of making further war. No victory could be achieved so long as the Japanese and the sakuradite under the soil were still in Britannia's posession. In war, even people are resources. It it is the height of foolishness to act as if it were not so due to personal grievances."

"Tohdoh-san..."

With Chiba sufficiently embarrassed, Nunnally raised the remote to start the next episode, stopping and holding back a groan as one other person decided they just had to get a word in edgewise.

"So," Tamaki started slowly, scratching at the top of his head with a puzzled look smeared across his face, "do you think he'd 'ave won? You know, with the Yamato Alliance?"

Cornelia actually snickered in response.

"Of course not. I knew he wanted to assassinate me, so even if those undisciplined rabble had followed orders I still wouldn't let him get close enough for that to happen. Most likely we would have come to a stalemate and he'd have to retreat due to lack of supplies and fuel."

Again there was silence as everyone spent a moment to contemplate the warrior princess's words, apart from a tapping at the back. Anya had her elbow against her armrest and her head propped up by her fist, and was jostling her leg up and down impatiently, a look of building annoyance across her lips.

"Can we just get on with this. I'd rather not relive every moment in real time."

Nunnally didn't wait to confirm everyone was ready this time, raising the remote and hitting the PLAY button.

 **It was a new day in Area 11, and the most downtrodden of its people lived in squalor with no jobs to be found and little to do. In one dilapidated shack an old woman sat in silence, staring blankly down, suggestive empty vials strewn across a small table in front of her.**

Kallen winced. She knew exactly what that woman had been getting into. Refrain, the same drug as her mother. Use of the drug in Japan was way down now, but seeing it again, even removed as it was by years and through a screen, it reminded her of the hurt her family had gone through. Maybe if Naoto had still been around...

 **The shanty town turned out to be just below the raised tracks of the Tokyo rail system, and inside one of its cars was none other than the Ashford group, minus the boys and Kallen.**

 **"I never left the Tokyo Settlement before." Shirley was beaming with excitement as she turned from the window to glance at Milly. "This is my first time."**

 **The blonde troublemaker was a little more composed, and she knew just what to say to rile the other girl up.**

 **"I'm sure you wish Lelouch could've come with us, don't you?" To this, Shirley squeaked in embarrassment, much to the Milly's enjoyment. "Don't be so shy. Tonight we can stay up all night talking. Let's tell each other which boys we like from school."**

It would soon be obvious to everyone, but for now only Milly and Nina knew when this conversation had taken place, and while the elder girl didn't appear bothered, and Rivalz beside her was holding back a whine at her implying she liked lots of boys, Nina's eyes widened in fear. Her gaze flitted to the Japanese members of the audience around her as she remembered what had caused the hotel-jacking situation to escalate. Kallen didn't seem to mind old racism too much now, though holding actions based on that racism in deep contempt, but that Chiba woman, and probably that man Tamaki too, might not take kindly to the moment she called one of the JLF an Eleven. And Cornelia beside her wouldn't be pleased it was her fault Euphemia was exposed to danger.

Just as she was about to say something, anything, to prevent the inevitable tide of abuse for her racial slur, now so long ago, Rivalz spoke up.

"Hey, what are you looking at me for?" Chiba was frowning in his direction and he obviously took offense. "That was a girls' night out. It's not like they would have invited me even if I'd been able to attend!"

It appeared Rivalz could already tell what was coming too, and perhaps because of how close to home the Kawaguchi incident had hit, it had him a little overly defensive.

"No matter how much time passes," Chiba huffed, turning back to face the screen, "it still disgusts me that you Britannians could be thinking about a 'girl night' when there were people starving just out of sight."

Cornelia rolled her eyes.

"Blame my father for creating such an environment through the colonial policies, not a bunch of barely pubescent schoolchildren."

"And what about you? You enforced those policies, didn't you!?"

Neither Cornelia nor Chiba really seemed angry enough to come to blows, but yet another argument so soon, no matter how petty, made sitting near either of them an unpleasant position. The voice of reason this time came from the most unlikely of people, Tamaki looking up at the ceiling with a mystified expression across his brow.

"So, C.C. was under the mask..." He was still reasoning out the previous episode's ending. "And nobody's seen her since Lelouch died. So maybe C.C. is Zero right now!"

This received quite a few stares, mostly in confusion as to how he could come to such a conclusion. As for Zero, he tried not to look uncomfortable as he responded, his voice quavering just enough to give him away though.

"I assure you, I am not C.C."

From the back, Anya giggled slightly, a bored look dominating her face, her cheek resting once again against her hand.

"We said C.C. lived with us, remember? And she's still at home. Good try though. Do you have a second guess?"

"Well..." Tamaki attempted to justify himself. "It's just, that wouldn't be the only time she wore the costume. She did it again when we met with Kyoto."

"Ah yes," Kaguya added whimsically, "I heard about that. I wish I could've been there at the time."

From his spot far to the right, Guilford sat in silence, trying to follow along with the latest pointless talk and finding no common ground with any of it.

"I don't know whether to say Lelouch reusing old deceptions was bold, or uncreative."

Kaguya let out a small chuckle at this, covering her mouth with one hand.

"Why, Sir Guilford, if it's not broken, don't try fixing it!" She glanced back to Zero, her eyes narrowing suggestively as her gaze met the blank mirror of his helmet. "I can say for sure, a trick like switching who's under the costume is still quite effective. Isn't it, _Zero_?"

Zero shifted in his seat.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean."

"But," Tamaki began again, shifting the topic back to something slightly more inane, "C.C.'s a woman! How did she hide her boobs? That jumpsuit's skintight!"

Although most the responses to Tamaki's ignorance were irritation, a clear, devious hum came from Milly and Lloyd in perfect unison. And behind them Nina's eyes glazed over as a blush crept across her cheeks. Luckily Sayoko knew how to deal with Tamaki, and answered him honestly and simply.

"You can bind your breasts down, you know."

"You can do that?!"

Kallen looked down at her own chest and frowned. It was a good thing she was never expected to wear the mask herself, because she wasn't sure it would be quite as easy for her to hide her womanly assets as C.C.

"Speak for yourself," she muttered, not really expecting anyone to hear. Nina, however, did, and she shut her legs tight as her blush spread across her face.

 **The scene cut abruptly to Ohgi and his crew stepping into a sparsely decorated, but still impressive room, gaudy colours from the carpet and couch assaulting the eyes even as the smooth voice of Zero caressed their ears, reassuring them it was safe to enter. This was to be their new hideout, after all.**

 **"D'you mind if I ask how you came by this?" Ohgi wondered.**

Anya giggled again and assumed the masked hero's answer.

"'Yes.'"

"Whoa." Gino was even more amazed now than Oghi and the others had been at the time. "That was your secret hideout? That camper is like a fortress!"

Rivalz nodded along, arms crossed proudly in front of him.

"You gotta give Lelouch one thing: He had style."

Tianzi was rather intrigued too, having never seen such a motor home before, but one thing eluded her.

"He just asked for it?"

Kaguya smiled to her friend and made a flamboyant motion with her hand over her left eye.

 **As they were inspecting their new home, one of Ohgi's friends reported in to the others.**

 **"It's huge! Check it out, it's got a second storey!"**

"Uh," Gino began, "who's that guy again?"

Ohgi and Tamaki offered the knight a restrained glare, and a not-so-restrained glare each at his insensitivity.

"That's Yoshida," the former Black Knights Deputy Commander answered. "He was our friend. He died during the Black Rebellion."

"So, is he going to be important, or...?"

 **Minami sat down and picked up a remote control.**

 **"It's even got a TV!"**

Kallen dropped her face into the palm of her hand.

"Yeah, Minami, that's the most important part."

 **Luckily for the Ashford group at the time, it was only because Minami went straight to the TV that the soon-to-be Black Knights learned about the trouble at Lake Kawaguchi on the news.**

Lloyd smirked.

"I like the way the camera makes sure to get the girls' rears in frame. Real classy."

 **Everyone crowded around to watch the horror at the resort. A splinter faction of the Japan Liberation Front had taken everyone in the area their hostage, and were using the hotel built over the lake as their stronghold. Information was passing by rapidly onscreen, as more was always coming in, but one clip was of particular interest to the audience.**

"Hey!" Gino pointed to the screen, a huge grin plastered across his face. "It's you guys!"

Milly forced out a small laugh, trying to be pleasant.

"After that night we kept seeing that clip everywhere. We were real celebrities for a while."

"So," Lloyd began, mischief dripping from tone, "forgetting about the business with the apostrophe and 'S', can we just agree, this time they really messed up?"

 **At the bottom of the screen were words, written in white, presumably intended to make any watchers feel fear for the hostages, but royally failing in this:**

 **Fottage Taken by the Perpetraeor**

"Hm!" Tohdoh grunted in disapproval at Kusakabe and his men. "Such a shameful display. And only death to show for it."

"Tohdoh-san," Chiba whispered to the man beside her, "do you remember those files Schneizel gave us concerning Lelouch's Geass? Wasn't Kusakabe one of the people listed as possibly being under its influence?"

"We cannot be sure he took hostages as a result of Geass. No doubt we would have seen Lelouch get near him first, and we have no such evidence."

"But maybe...!" No other possibility leapt out at her, and she trailed off.

 **Back at the Black Knights HQ, the group didn't seem especially concerned about what was going on. They shared some banter, and the general concensus was that Cornelia was going to slaughter every Japan Liberation Front soldier there and nothing would be accomplished.**

 **As for Zero, he appeared completely at ease, though a bead of sweat dripped down his face under his mask, trailing by gritted teeth.**

 **Luckily for the hostages Cornelia had a plan, sending a team of Sutherlands into a utilities tunnel just below the convetion center and the hotel. Unluckily for them, the JLF had a little surprise set up in case of just that happening.**

Rakshata tapped her pipe against her bottom lip derisively.

"They had a Raiko? Such an inflexible device - barely worth fielding."

As the Raiko crew onscreen prepared to fire, Gino's grin grew even larger.

"'Super Electro-Magnetic Shrapnel Cannon'? That is the most ridiculous name for a weapon ever! Why didn't we get to have those, Princess Cornelia?"

From his spot next to the Purple Princess Guilford watched the weapon discharge and utterly shred the Britannian knightmares, finding himself admiring the combined overdesign that went into it, as well as its simplicity.

"It can only be effectively used on the defensive, but it certainly excels at that."

At a new revelation onscreen about Euphemia being one of the hostages Xingke raised a brow and Tianzi gasped. Tohdoh's eyes widened imperceptibly and Kaguya cocked her head to the side. Even Anya, losing her patience with all this, took note.

Rivalz looked around at the reactions many in the audience were exhibiting.

"Didn't you guys know Princess Euphemia was there?"

Kaguya shook her head.

"No. They never reported it on the news. You weren't there, so how did you know she was involved?"

"Me? Oh, that's simple." He looked behind him to Nina. "She wouldn't stop telling us about how amazing the Princess was."

Noticing all eyes on her, Nina shrank in her seat, and when she looked to her right, she saw Cornelia turning her head, ever so slowly, casting a suspicious glare down upon her.

 **Despite the help ASEEC may have been able to contribute to resolving the hotel takeover, they were an irregular unit and weren't allowed in on the rescue operation until expressly given permission. Of course, there was also the matter that Suzaku was an Honourary Britannian, and wasn't fully trusted by the Britannian establishment.**

 **Hours passed, and Ohgi's team, now quite clearly Zero's team, spent the time moving in to their new base. Zero spent the time in solitude, watching the news. He was postively glued to his seat watching the livestream on his laptop. To those who noticed, it seemed an almost unnatural obsession, like he was personally invested in the outcome of the hostage situation.**

Zero narrowed his eyes behind his mask. He remembered, on the day of the Second Battle for Tokyo, the so-called Second Black Rebellion, Lelouch had told him, had answered point blank in front of the Kururugi Shrine, that he'd only gone to save those hostages for his own benefit, as a PR stunt to draw attention to his new organization, the Black Knights. But here, Lelouch wasn't thinking anything close to that. He was considering intervening, and even noted that despite lacking the arms, numbers, and discipline to successfully march in and save the Britannians held inside the hotel, he couldn't do nothing.

Suzaku hadn't believed Lelouch back then. Somehow he could tell his old friend was lying, but even after officially joining him he'd never asked for further clarification. Perhaps, he figured, he'd been content to believe the lies, even knowing that's all they were. He was happy to assume the worst about Lelouch, even at the very end. He couldn't let the truth get in the way of his revenge for Euphemia, or for Shirley.

But now was the first moment Zero had to face the truth. It was still possible that Lelouch had only used the panic caused by Kusakabe to show off to the world and gain media attention, but the fact he hadn't explicitly thought to do so right at the start suggested otherwise. If Lelouch was really so malicious and self-centered, he wouldn't have any tension at the sight of his friends in danger, especially if no one was watching, and wouldn't hesitate to use them to his advantage.

But no. Lelouch had lied. He'd lied about why he saved everyone, including Euphemia. And that was a thought Zero had never considered. Lelouch must've known, right? Lelouch always seemed to know everything. Could the realization that Euphemia was there have been the necessary step for Lelouch to decide to take out the JLF? To save the rest of the Student Council, but also to protect her? If that were the case, then why would he kill her during the SAZ event though?

Lelouch said he'd used Geass on Euphie then killed her so he could initiate the Black Rebellion. But if he'd lied about the hotel, then that could mean what happened with Euphemia...

Zero didn't notice what was going on onscreen, or the discussions popping up around him. He was too focussed on his own thoughts, and the self-doubt creeping into him.

 **Kallen was concerned about her friends, even though she didn't say so, trying to keep up the division between her and them, Japanese and Britannian. She couldn't help but ask Zero what might happen to the poor souls captured by the JLF though. His response was cold.**

 **"Eventually there will be no reason to keep those Britannians alive."**

"HA!" Most the audience glanced in Rivalz's direction as he let out a quick laugh of victory. To several of them, Zero's words onscreen had been ruthless and cruel, but the schoolboy only smiled. "That's my buddy Lelouch, alright! Somebody tell me you actually believe he meant that. It's obvious he was trying to keep in character. I can tell. Lelouch used to say stuff like that all the time, real dark stuff, but he never meant it. It was always just to cover up something else."

Nunnally's face softened, and she realized she'd been holding her every muscle tight at the growing tension onscreen. But Rivalz's declaration brought her back to reality, and more importantly, reminded her of just what an insightful person he was. Often forgotten as Lelouch's friend at all in favour of Suzaku, Rivalz had a unique insight into Lelouch's character that even the Lancelot pilot had lacked. It was what allowed him to believe in Lelouch's goodness, even after subjugating the world and ruling with an iron fist. She hadn't been around to know, obviously, but he'd somehow been able to see through Lelouch's actions at the end. He may not have been able to figure out what Lelouch's goal was, or what those actions were designed to obscure, but he knew there was more to what was going on than what the Demon Emperor allowed people to see. It was also why he came into the theatre that day singing Lelouch's praises when so many others were willing to condemn him outright.

"You were a good friend to my brother, Rivalz," she said gently, grabbing the boy's attention instantly. He nodded, respectful of her authority.

"Of course. That guy may have been a mystery, but he was never good at playing the bad guy. He always tried too hard. It came off as forced."

Though no one could tell, Zero's jaw dropped. Rivalz was right. Zero Requiem was the perfect example of just that. Lelouch tried so hard to be a villain he didn't even act like a real person anymore, seeming more like a cartoon antagonist than a believable tyrant - just the image he wanted to craft, exaggurated, earning an exaggurated hate in response.

 **Ohgi came into the room with a box of black and silver uniforms, wondering what to do with them.**

 **"I mean, as far as gear goes, it looks pretty hip, but..."**

Gino scratched at his head.

"I don't get it. Why would your mobile home come with a bunch of uniforms?"

"Clearly," Jeremiah mused from a row back, "Lelouch got them ahead of time. He must have commissioned them from a costume-maker, like he did his own outfit."

Villetta couldn't help but cringe.

"'Hip'?" She looked over to Ohgi with a mocking smile. "What are you, my dad?"

Ohgi only let out an embarrassed laugh.

"So I'm not the trendiest guy out there. That's why you love me, right?"

His laughter was contagious, and Villetta couldn't help but join in.

"Something like that."

 **Zero decided he'd gone too long without dropping a bombshell on everyone, so spun in his chair to face Kallen and Ohgi and stood up, tensing his fingers like he was plucking the world up to hold in his hand.**

 **"What we are - what we're trying to be - are knights for justice!"**

"You know," Anya began, "you don't really hear the phrase 'knights for justice' all that much in English. Probably because it's super pretentious. Maybe it's just a Japanese thing?"

Right next to her, Jeremiah just let out a sigh and gave her a playful swat on the leg.

"Oh, shush."

 **Night had finally arrived, and Cornelia still hadn't launched any more assaults on the hotel. The situation was bleak, and C** **écile and Suzaku sat aboard the Lancelot together discussing it. Suzaku was sure everything could be resolved peacefully. He preferred the logic of systems, of bureaucracy, to individualist emotions, and truly believed that would be enough to end conflict and maintain peace.**

Lloyd was laughing to himself again, this time something about how _trustworthy_ the system had already proven itself to be, and trying to make it work over and over again was the definition of insanity. Cécile was trying to shut him up and Milly was just left laughing at their antics. But nobody else was paying attention to them. A small hint of Suzaku's character had been revealed, and everyone a had different view of it, mostly negative.

Kallen had perhaps the most complete understanding out of everyone, knowing his deep, dark secret, and she wondered to herself how that fit into his perspective.

'Is that why he can't decide things for himself?' she thought, occasionally letting her eyes flit to the black-caped form of Zero. 'Because he killed his own father and doesn't trust himself with even personal authority? Weak.'

Toward the back, Anya sneered at the image of Suzaku onscreen, her own understanding of him heavily coloured by their shared time as Knights of the Round Table.

'He's just a lost puppy where L.L. is a grown wolf. He and I are alike. Our personalities were stunted. But I'm starting to grow again. Can you say the same, Suzaku?'

 **Unfortunately, negotiations between Cornelia's forces and the hotel-jackers weren't going well, and they decided to throw one of their prisoners off the roof to his death to show they meant business. Cornelia still refused to give in to their demands though. Doing so would only encourage more, and more obviously destructive, terrorism. There really wasn't an option for the viceroy. So long as Euphemia was present, any attempt to dislodge the JLF would likely result in her death, and the price of that collateral damage was one Cornelia refused to pay.**

 **Then Zero appeared.**

"Diethard, that crazy Britannian bastard," Tamaki guffawed at the sight of the propagandist fishing in the lake. "He had the right idea not taking things so seriously. He hangs out with Schneizel now, right?"

No one answered.

"Seriously?" Tamaki looked around incredulously "Nobody knows what happened to him?"

It was true. No one seen nor heard from him since the final battle. Before that, he'd attached himself to Schneizel, quite enjoying his company and not really feeling the need to associate with anyone else. While he was a Black Knight, it was necessary for him to stay in contact with everyone to keep on their good side, but after they lost Zero and Lelouch became the enemy, the war ceased to be a team effort between top brass and grunts, and Diethard didn't bother to expend his patience dealing with any of them.

Kallen looked over to Nunnally.

"Your Highness?" she addressed, the words still sounding odd on her tongue while addressing the girl she'd only ever known as the cute, unobtrusive little sister of a far more important man. "Not even you?"

Nunnally shook her head.

"I met Diethard when the Damocles was being built, but I don't know where he went. I had my secretaries search every registry they could for him so I could invite him to be here today, but they couldn't locate him either."

"That lucky bastard," Tamaki groaned. "He probably nicked everything he could from Schneizel then ran off. He's probably sipping fruity drinks on a beach in Fiji right now!"

 **Zero had stolen one of Diethard's news vans, probably with Geass, and was standing atop it, brazen as ever, as it drove straight toward the gates of the hotel. He was gambling that Cornelia wouldn't shoot him on sight, and it was a gamble that paid off.**

"I love the Black Knights uniform," Kaguya said as the first members of the Order sat huddled around in the news van, the shadows cascading over their crisp black and silver outfits, giving them a truly imposing appearance onscreen. "It would have been nice if I got one. Oh well. Cosplay for me, it is."

Beside her, Tianzi blinked her red eyes, questioning what Kaguya meant, while Kallen, a few rows behind, stifled a laugh. Maybe Kaguya wasn't that bad after all.

 **Cornelia's custom knightmare and two of her Royal Guard drove up and screeched to a stop in front of Zero, cutting him off from going any farther. He was surrounded, but still confidant things would go his way. He wouldn't even need to use his Geass.**

 **"Cornelia!" With a booming voice, amplified by his mask's speakers, Zero gave his offer. "Which would you choose? Clovis, who is dead, or Euphemia, who is alive?"**

Ohgi's jaw dropped.

"He didn't use Geass?"

"He knew me well," Cornelia grudgingly confirmed. "He was a master of reading people, and knowing what buttons to push. I daresay he didn't need Geass at all. It only hastened his schedule."

Nunnally wasn't sure what to say. She remembered how close the li Britannia sisters were, and could easily follow Lelouch's logic. If put in the position to make a choice, Cornelia would do anything to save Euphemia, even if it meant betraying their father. Perhaps especially if it meant betraying their father. In theory, anyone with that knowledge could have manipulated Cornelia just as easy as Lelouch had back then, even Nunnally herself, and it made her wonder; if her role and Lelouch's had been reversed, if she would've grown to hate the world like him, and if she could've been brave enough, just like him, to stand against that world by herself and make the ultimate sacrifice to change it.

 **Zero astounded everyone yet again, making the bold offer to save Euphemia for free, and just as he predicted she would, Cornelia let him pass the military blockade toward the hotel. But the Witch of Britannia wasn't going to let to him get away with the glory so easy, and gave the order for Lancelot to move in while the JLF was distracted with their infamous guest.**

 **While Suzaku began the startup sequence for his knightmare, Cécile's voice came through on his comm, running him through a quick mission briefing. He was to enter the utility tunnel, just like the previous team, and attack, using his VARIS to destroy the foundation of the hotel, allowing Cornelia's Royal Guard to rescue the hostages before it sunk to the bottom of the lake. That was what he was told, but the true mission was to hopefully get far enough before being blown to smithereens to raise the alarm and distract Kusakabe's attention, allowing Cornelia to simply charge through the front gate and slaughter every non-Britannian in the building.**

 **Before the Lancelot touched down at the bottom of the entry shaft, Lloyd left a quick few words of warning.**

 **"Space is tight in there. The Lancelot will only have a 47.8 percent evasion rate."**

At this, a few members of the audience squirmed in their seats, Villetta, Cécile, Kallen, and Zero foremost amongst them.

 **"Make sure you both pull out of there before it's too late," he continued pleasantly. "Lancelot might be wrecked. That would be unacceptable."**

 **The phrasing of Lloyd's words seemed to be bother Suzaku, and he hesitated before clarifying.**

 **"Before it's too late?"**

 **"Ngh-oh~?"**

Tamaki cringed.

"I thought you couldn't get any gayer. You did that one on purpose!"

"Lord Asplund," Villetta addressed cautiously, raising her own concerns, "was it really necessary to use those terms when giving Suzaku his instructions?"

The bespectacled noble glanced back at Villetta, his glasses catching the light from the screen just right and obscuring his eyes as he let a cheshire grin peel across his mouth.

"You don't think space was tight in that tunnel? Or maybe it was a bad idea for him to pull out before it was too late?"

Even under the obscuring helmet and heavy costume, Zero was visible shaken by this talk.

"I don't like where this is going."

Cécile made sure to give the errant scientist a stern frown, but her warning had no effect on Milly, sitting to his other side.

"But Nina and I were in danger! I don't see anything wrong with Suzaku penetrating the terrorists' defenses by driving straight through that tunnel to save us - as fast and as hard as he could."

Behind them Nina's face went red, and at Tohdoh's unspoken instistence Chiba refrained from getting involved. Zero however sat forward in his seat to give his weak reply.

"Stop!"

"Well," Kaguya added with a shrug, "maybe not straight through, right? Maybe just a bit to the left." Then she seemed to deflate and looked down. "Not that I would personally know, or anything."

"STOP."

The troublemakers weren't done yet though.

"It's not like he'd have to be gentle," Milly continued to laugh, Lloyd joining her hysterics beside her, and cute, girlish belly laughs coming from the back row. "After all, the enemy was experienced."

"No, no, nonono-!"

"I'm glad he didn't hold back and really gave it to them!"

"STOP!"

Everyone turned to Zero, with various looks on their faces, mostly questioning, while a few wore cheeky grins.

"What's your problem, Zero?" Anya wondered, bobbing her eyebrows up and down, daring him to continue making a scene and outing his true identity. "Do you have a problem with Suzaku saving the day?"

With all eyes on him, Zero slumped in his seat, defeated.

"No. I have don't have a problem."

 **The Lancelot was lifted by a crane and lowered into the tunnel through the maintenance hatch and Suzaku got into position, waiting for the order to charge.**

 **Meanwhile, Nina was busy making one of the worst decisions of her life, though thankfully, or perhaps not, eventually she would make all sorts of new worst decisions, making this one seem pretty tame in comparision. As one of the JLF guarding the hostages walked by she whimpered.**

 **"E-Eleven!"**

Before anyone could make the obligatory comment about how stupid she'd been to say that around the scary men with guns, Nina raised both hands as a sign of surrender, her gaze planted firmly at her lap.

"I got mugged by a Japanese man once. I didn't have anything for him to steal, so he ran off, but I became afraid of Japanese people in general. I'm getting better about it now. I'm sorry."

Milly looked back at Nina with sympathy but said nothing. Surprisingly, this small gesture of formally apologizing was enough to calm the Japanese in the audience down, and they either nodded approvingly, muttered beneath their breath, or didn't react at all and just kept watching the screen.

 **Amazingly, Euphemia stood up and revealed herself to the guard to stop any retaliation for the slur before it started in earnest.**

Cornelia's body went slack, and she fought to keep her eyes focussed on the screen. This was no time for crying. That had already come and gone.

"She was too kind for her own good."

"Was it kindness?" Rakshata interjected, her usual carefree attitude undamaged by the sad memory of a dead princess. "Or was it just a lack of self-preservation?"

Nunnally forced a smile onto her face and looked back at the Indian inventor, showing every outward sign of warmth. It's what the Pink Princess would have wanted.

"It was kindness," she said. "Our sister Euphie was always like that. I don't think she really enjoyed being royalty because it meant being seperate from all her subjects, who she loved so dearly."

"It would seem," Zero offered next, "every member of your family was a paragon in one way or another. Princess Euphemia's specialty was a compassion I've rarely seen. And a bravery as overflowing as the greatest warrior."

It was becoming more apparent with every scene Euphemia was in that she would never cause the SAZ Disaster on purpose, and for the moment nobody had the heart to bring it up and ruin her sisters' moment of fond memories.

'Euphie...' Zero watched as onscreen she made sure Nina was alright, unbothered by the JLF around her. 'I miss you.'

 **Zero was meeting with Kusakabe, and was having just as much trouble reasoning with him as Cornelia had before.**

 **"What exactly do you hope to accomplish by this action?" he wondered to the lieutenant colonel.**

 **His answer was bombastic, but less thoughtful than Zero had hoped.**

 **"Gain attention! I want this country and the world to know that the Japanese aren't dead yet."**

 **Zero didn't move, but his next words became tinged with disgust, conveying his thoughts more clearly than an imposing posture ever could.**

 **"How stale. You people are obsolete. There's no saving you."**

Tohdoh grunted in thought as he listened, considering the Zero onscreen and his conclusion.

"He was right. Lelouch alone had the will to move forward rather than pine for what used to be. But old traditions fight hardest to survive at the dawn of a new age."

To his right, Xingke's eyes narrowed, and he glanced over at his fellow veteran with a trace of a smile.

"You could say it was Lelouch's vision alone that inspired the world to a global revolution. Do you think he planned for that all along?" He paused to emphasize his last words. "Even his final act?"

He was clearly referring to Lelouch's death at the hands of Zero, and Suzaku taking up the mask instead. It wasn't clear yet to either of them why this had happened, though each had their hunches, but this was the first time Xingke specifically brought up the idea of it being planned to Tohdoh directly. The elder soldier only frowned and lowered his head in thought before replying.

"I cannot say certainly yet. We can only wonder, and wait for illumination."

Meanwhile, from the other side of the aisle Gino was considering Lelouch's words from a different point of view.

"So, let me just see if I'm getting this," he said. He was far from dumb, but being among the least acquainted with Lelouch personally, as well as his goals and methods, the blonde knight found himself constantly one step behind everyone else. "He didn't want Japan to come back, and that's why he didn't like the JLF and why he just created a new nation during the Black Rebellion instead."

Kallen shrugged, the bare minimum of attention she wanted to give the overly cheerful boy.

"That's right."

"Okay, but isn't that inefficient? Wouldn't it be easier to just bring back the old system and reform it?" This caught the attention of several in the audience, the Japanese members most curious about a Britannian son of nobility's views on the subject. After all, what he was suggesting was exactly what the JLF once had in mind. "Maybe if he'd done that, Lelouch would have actually won his first war against Britannia."

The first to respond to Gino's hypothetical scenario was a surprise to everyone.

"Quite unlikely," Lloyd drawled through a contented smirk. "In some instances it's easier to build a system from the ground up than try to fix the old one. Just look at my marvelous Lancelot Albion as an example."

Rakshata threw back her head and laughed her usual loud whinny of delight.

"As opposed to the SEITEN, which was simply an upgraded form of my lovely Gurren." She shot her own smirk toward the front of the theatre and locked eyes with her rival. "Which was also stronger than your toy by tenfold."

Lloyd's good humour disappeared in an instant and he stood up, scowling and pointing like a petulant child.

"It wasn't even twice as fast and strong, and you know it! C'mon, Cécile, back me up, here!"

While Cécile attempted to get Lloyd to just give it up and sit back down, Jeremiah sighed.

"I don't think it's worth getting into a pissing contest over which knightmare was better when both of them are destroyed anyway."

Rakashata and Lloyd turned as one, forgetting their own argument for a moment to deliver the wittiest retort they could think of in unison.

"I BEG TO DISAGREE!"

"Xingke?" Tianzi tugged innocently at her favourite person in the world's sleeve. "How do you have a contest of going to the bathroom?"

Before the two scientists could start bickering again, Cornelia came to the rescue, returning the group to the previous subject.

"The old Japan was already dead. Perhaps if the nation still existed in some form at the time, Lelouch could have reformed it. But it didn't. And if he managed to take Tokyo and toppled the Area 11 government, he'd have to put something in its place immediately."

"Right!" Gino agreed. "So why not go with what the Japanese used to have and were familiar with?"

Guilford shook his head, disappointed his junior, yet still superior knight, didn't see the magnitude of the problem the princess had brought up.

"Area 11 was a multi-ethnic state with a deeply divided population. If the Black Rebellion succeeded, the new country would have fallen into civil war in no time between the Japanese and colonial Britannians, and that would have provided ample justification for either China or Britannia to get involved, helping each side to gain a stronger foothold in the Pacific, or regain it. In the worst-case scenario, it would turn from a civil war, then a proxy war between China and Britannia, into open fighting between the two supernations."

"That sounds bad," Ohgi added unhelpfully, "but I'm a little unsure where you're going with this."

Kaguya sighed. It hadn't taken her long to figure out what argument Guilford and Cornelia were making and guess what their conclusion would be. After all, she'd already been down this line of reasoning before, back in 2017 when the SAZ fell and it seemed like the world was coming to an end. It didn't take a political genius to follow the Britannians' logic, she figured. Rather, just someone with a little knowledge of history.

"Democracy is a difficult system to maintain," she began, an almost scholarly tone finding its way into her voice, "and can be impossible to build in the first place if certain requirements aren't met beforehand. Trying to establish democracy at that time would have led to disaster. The only choice Lelouch had was imposing a harsh autocracy to prevent infighting between the different groups. If he were to bring back the old Japanese system, they'd be too slow and weak to react."

Tohdoh nodded, letting just a trace of an ironic smile into his normally stone expression.

"Sometimes people need a king."

The weight behind those words darkened the mood in the theatre greatly, no one speaking up for quite some time. Each member of the audience looked to each other, some with the faintest glance and others quite overtly, all waiting to see who could break the sudden atmosphere of seriousness that had descended upon them. Tamaki had been silent so far, but as the quiet drew on, he did what he was best at and opened his big mouth.

"I guess we really dodged a bullet, huh?"

The USJ, the United States of Japan, would have fallen apart as quickly as it came if Zero, if Lelouch, didn't take over as its sole leader. Suzaku had never thought of it that way. He'd always thought Lelouch just wanted power, and always more of it, to satisfy his insatiable ego. It was still possible that had been the case, but even if it were so, Lelouch declaring a new nation with himself as its ruler would still be justified, at least for a while. Having all the power of the new government vested in one man would be in the interest of the people to prevent a horrific civil breakdown, and in this way, what he wanted overlapped with what everyone else wanted, even if the reasons for it were different. It was just like he'd said in the Thought Elevator on Kamine, once upon a time. It was an arrangement that pleased every party involved.

Once, Suzaku would have argued that it was mere exploitation and was wrong on that basis alone. But now, Zero couldn't help but see it as the only option. Even if it was exploiting the situation for his own benefit, it was the best option for the people, whether they liked it or not. It was only because Lelouch was so brilliant that he made the deal appealing, whereas Suzaku, if it had been him instead, would have come off as tyrannical. Zero knew all too well, from personal experience, that he couldn't please anyone no matter how much he tried.

Back then, Suzaku had criticized Lelouch, but looking back on it now, as Zero, he knew he was no longer in any position to judge. He remembered, from before he took up the mask, he'd gone against his own principles, not once even acknowledging his hypocrisy, and exploited the chaos and war caused by the Black Knights in an attempt to become the Knight of One. And unlike Lelouch, whose ambitions and manipulation yielded him constant success and earned him roaring praise from his own people, what Suzaku did for himself only alienated everyone around him.

 **At that moment Suzaku got the order to engage the Raiko guarding the utility entrance to the hotel, and he threw the Lancelot into a furious charge. The Raiko crew knew he was coming though and fired, their first shot failing to find its target as the White Death dodged, faster than any knightmare that had ever come before.**

 **At the top of the hotel meanwhile, all attempts to resolve things peacefully came to an end as well, Kusakabe drawing his sword and attacking Zero. A slot in the masked hero's visor opened at the last second however, revealing a crimson sigil emblazoned across Zero's left eye.**

 _ **"Die."**_

"Tohdoh-san!" Chiba looked to the elder man in astonishment. "Kusakabe was never under Lelouch's control! Schneizel lied to us!"

"I cannot agree with that," he replied, just as level-headed as always. "He only provided us a list of suspected victims of Geass, not a confirmed list."

"He didn't seem interested in making that distinction at the time."

 **The guard from before had escorted Euphemia to Kusakabe's control room, but at the sound of gunfire he threw open the door only to be shot by Zero. Kusakabe and his men inside had all 'committed suicide' once they realized how meaningless their operation was. And as Euphemia stared at the bodies and blood through the doorframe, and the figure of Zero, tall and malevolent standing amongst them, he spoke to her.**

 **"Euphemia. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for the commoners. You haven't changed."**

Milly put a finger to her chin.

"I think that counts as a Lelouch and Euphemia moment."

 **The** **remaining** **JLF suddenly found themselves being held at gunpoint, presumably by Ohgi's team just off camera, and Zero and Euphemia were momentarily left alone.**

 **"I heard that you're the Sub-Viceroy now, Your Highness - Princess Euphemia li Britannia."**

 **It wasn't an appointment she was happy with, especially since it was all because Clovis was dead. It was Zero who had made that happen, and for a moment the Pink Princess was sure Zero killed him as retribution for what could only be called a purge in Shinjuku. But Zero said that was not the case. No, it was merely because Clovis was a son of Charles zi Britannia that he was assassinated.**

 **"That reminds me..." He levelled his pistol at her. "You're one of his children too, aren't you?"**

"That's too far, Lelouch!" Cornelia slammed a fist against her leg. "Hate Father all you want, but leave your siblings out of it!"

From the front row, Rivalz gave a long sigh.

"For Lelouch's sister, you don't know him one bit."

"What!?"

"Rivalz is right," Nunnally offered in agreement. "We know he didn't kill Euphie, and having spoken with her, there would be a risk she might realize it was him. So he said something he didn't mean."

"Lelouch was an exceptional liar, Nunnally. You know that. How can you be so convinced he actually cared?" Cornelia didn't wish to speak harshly to her only remaining sister, but she didn't want to budge on this issue, either. "He seemed pretty set on killing me."

"If he truly hated all our siblings he would have killed Euphie right then and there and not risked his identity."

 **The Lancelot had broken through five salvos from the Raiko, and finally in range, Suzaku drew the VARIS, firing it and destroying the cannon with a single blast.**

"No!" Gino mocked having a heart attack. "The Super Electro-Magnetic Shrapnel Cannon! It didn't get enough screentime!"

 **Suzaku continued on, blasting a hole through the ceiling with his VARIS and jumping out, taking aim at the hotel's foundation block under the water and firing, blowing it apart. The hotel began to sink into the lake, but Zero wasn't about to get trapped in the dying building. His operatives had placed plastic explosives at key locations around the hotel, and as he looked out the window at the Lancelot, and Suzaku looked back at him, he pulled a detonator from his cape and pressed the button.**

 **The hotel burst apart at the seams, and all hope seemed to be lost. The hostages, the JLF, and Zero were all dead.**

 **Then, from the falling ashcloud from the explosions, a yacht drifted out into view.**

Despite his earlier outburst Gino was very invested in what was going on onscreen, never seeing this event from these, more telling angles.

"And where'd he get that boat?" he pouted. "Don't tell me he planned that far ahead."

Milly and Nina looked to each other before the blonde girl answered for the both of them.

"It was the hotel's. We'd reserved tickets to go on it out on the lake that night. We told Lelouch about it when we invited him to come with us, so he knew it was there."

 **Diethard was in his own news van, not quite sure what to make of Zero's suicide attack, and expecting, hoping, for something more. He'd taken his other van, after all. Surely Zero intended to use its broadcasting systems to send out a message...**

 **"My dear Britannians," Zero's voice rang out across the water as his masked face appeared on every television in Tokyo, Diethard predicting his use of the stolen news equipment perfectly, "have no fear. All of the h** **ostages from the hotel are safe and sound. I, Zero, return them to you unharmed."**

 **Several lifeboats drifted around the yacht, each containing a number of prisoners of the JLF, evidentally rescued by Zero, and as everyone viewing the scene breathed a sigh of relief, the true moment to remember appeared at last.**

"And here it comes!" Kaguya squeaked with all the adoration of a fangirl.

 **Spotlights lit up on the yacht, revealing Zero in his entirety and a team of black and silver-clad men and women surrounding him.**

 **"People! Fear us, or rally behind us as you see fit! We are the Black Knights!"**

 **Inside his own van, Dietard was having an argument with his underlings over allowing Zero's speech to go uninterrupted, but he got his way, and they let it run.**

 **"Those of you with power, fear us! Those of you without it, rally behind us! We, the Black Knights, shall be the ones who stand in judgement of this world!"**

LLLLLLLLLLLL

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 _Special thanks to Ezekieru._

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	12. Entropy 10: (R1,9) Refrain

**Entropy 10: (R1;9) Refrain**

"Ahh," Kaguya sighed happily, hugging her arms and shivering with delight. "That speech gets to me every time. It's like a mission statement to the world!"

Tamaki grinned widely from his seat and posed, placing his hands on his hips in an effort to look cool.

"It was even better standing right there with him! Oh man, I felt electrified and ready to kick ass after that!"

"You were all standing together in perfect sync. How did you find the time to rehearse?"

Kallen spoke up to volunteer an explanation.

"We didn't. He just gave us our equipment and told us what to do, then left us to it. It was only after we got on the boat he said to gather around, be quiet, and look disciplined. That speech was as much a shock to us as anyone else." Kallen smiled wistfully, her eyes glazing over momentarily with nostalgia. "And so was the Black Knights."

Toward the back Ohgi chuckled lightly, remembering how confused they all were when Zero had them stand at attention on the yacht. When he realized what Zero intended, he bowed and made Tamaki mirror him on Zero's other side, and he felt pretty silly about it. But somehow it had gone over quite well, and Zero had even praised him afterwards for taking the initiative. Those had truly been the days - when they moved from one operation to the next without a delay in between, believing in their righteous cause and their infallible leader. Maybe, if those days had lasted forever, Ohgi thought, he wouldn't have cared if Zero was a Britannian prince or what his true objectives were. He almost felt disappointed that those times had to come to an end and Lelouch had to be disposed of to keep the Black Knights true to their morals - morals Lelouch himself had instilled in them to better control his soldiers.

"I notice you were at the back, Kallen," Nunnally said, oblivious to Ohgi's unspoken hate toward her brother. Kallen shrugged.

"My hair made me stand out, so I might've been recognized if I stood up front." She leaned back in her seat, again letting her thoughts drift and linger on the past, her recollection of events far rosier than Ohgi's just behind her. "But I was also closest to Lelouch; right where I knew I should be."

She'd already made it abundantly clear where she stood when it came to her views on Lelouch, but Kallen's words aroused the same mild outrage from the diehard Lelouch-haters as it always did, and she hastily changed the subject before they could all have another pointless argument.

"And what about you, Zero?" she taunted. "I haven't heard you make any impressive speeches since you showed up."

The redhead had to hold herself back from snickering at Zero's reaction. She couldn't see his face, but it was clear his mind was racing to decide what to say. That, and he tensed at the slight.

"What about-"

Kallen already knew he was about to bring up his speeches following the assassination of Lelouch, and the one-year anniversary of that same deed. He was a hard character to crack, but once she got used to his stunted morality the patterns in his behaviour became readily apparent. It was after she stopped thinking of Suzaku as a friend, and instead saw him only as an eternal enemy to crush between her Guren's claws, that she noticed how predictable he truly was.

"Those don't count. I bet someone scripted them for you."

Zero bristled at this remark, and Kallen narrowed her eyes and smirked. That idiot couldn't help but take the bait every time. If only she'd known how easy he was to manipulate, maybe Lelouch would still be the one wearing the mask, and not his traitor of a 'friend.' She pointed to the blank screen, at the front of the theatre, waiting, as always, for the next episode to start.

"That speech Lelouch gave was off the cuff," she said, revelling in how much her praise of the man she loved seemed to bother Zero. "You can tell because he repeats himself when he mentions fearing us or rallying behind us. He wouldn't have been so redundant if he wasn't thinking it up on the spot."

He knew he wasn't the best orator, and Zero's first official speech while wearing the mask was indeed written ahead of time by Lelouch, but he couldn't let himself be verbally thrashed by Kallen like this. He still had his promise to Lelouch, and even if he failed miserably he had to at least try to reassert himself and keep his image strong.

"As Zero," he began, adopting an overly reverent tone, "it is my duty to speak to the people and inspire their love of peace and freedom."

Behind him and on the other side of the aisle Anya rolled her eyes and spat her tongue.

"Bleh! Buzzwords and platitudes!" She ignored Sayoko as she admonished her for the unladilike display. "You sound a lot like a certain someone I used to know."

For those who weren't sure yet who Zero was under the helmet, this was an intriguing comment, despite the vulgarity it was prefaced with. Anya was known to have been very quiet, and didn't associate with many people before the end of the war, so if she knew Zero before the mask it greatly narrowed the options for everyone else still left guessing. Luckily for the caped hero, Lloyd interjected, stealing the focus of the conversation and rescuing his true identity from discovery for a little while longer.

"'Stand in judgement...'" he recited from Lelouch's speech on the yacht, a flicker of mischief in his voice, seemingly intent on starting an argument for the sheer fun of it. "Rather a presumptuous statement, wouldn't you say?"

Rakshata laughed back, fully committing to the change of topic if it meant bantering with her rival.

"Bold and overreaching, perhaps, but I'm sure even you'll agree it was a rousing performance, no?"

"Why of course! Though hardly as overreaching as we all may have thought at the time."

It was true, back then, when Britannia loomed above all, seemingly invincible, no one could have predicted the outrageous feats Zero would perform, turning the whole world upside down, one battle at a time. His final declaration at Lake Kawaguchi, in actuality a promise, was seen as absurd, but somehow he made it a reality. He came out of nowhere and began his rebellion, the blows he struck against the Empire growing more frequent and more devastating as time went on, accelerating; not a man but a force of nature - everyone around him being swept up or aside in his wake. Almost single-handed, Zero, Lelouch, brought the world to its knees.

"It's rather ironic," Lloyd continued without delay. "Lelouch wanted to judge the world as guilty, yet himself was judged the villain."

The cheery noble was among the few who'd hardly spared Zero more than a passing thought over the years, that is, until he met Lelouch and began helping with the Zero Requiem. Even then though, he was only tangentially involved, and wasn't forced to consider the personal sacrifice necessary to bring the plan to fruition. Yet somehow, despite his lack of investment, Lloyd's insight pierced right to the heart of Lelouch's tragic end, provoking some in the audience to rethink their stance on the Demon Emperor. From Lloyd's tone, it seemed he was almost hinting Lelouch was judged wrongly, but for those who still didn't know the truth behind his final actions the mere suggestion of it was repulsive. Still, there was no harm in believing Lelouch may have started out as good and fallen to evil over time for one reason or another. And for that, he at least could be afforded some pity.

Zero wasn't too taken aback at Lloyd's observation, remembering from his days in ASEEC the man's habit of commenting from the sidelines. He was the only one Zero knew of who hadn't picked an ideological side throughout the whole conflict with the Black Knights, and thus was able to point out the absurdity wherever he saw it, even amongst his allies.

Kallen meanwhile felt her spirits sink, Lloyd's words reminding her of a moment she'd never fully understood, but now made complete sense. It was when she first found out Zero and Lelouch were one and the same. Suzaku had said that Lelouch would eventually betray the world, just like it had betrayed him. She didn't know what he meant by that until this day, seeing Lelouch's past as if she'd been there. Lelouch truly hated his father, the Emperor, for throwing him and Nunnally away, and perhaps, being left to stew in that hate for so long, he grew to hate everyone and everything else as well. If she were right in this assumption, then Lelouch wasn't simply grandstanding for attention after saving the hostages at Lake Kawaguchi - he was giving voice to his deepest desires. He really believed the world was rotten and needed to be cleaned up. So he vowed for all to see, swore to eliminate the worst of the plague that devoured humanity, and thereby usher in a new age. And he succeeded at the cost of his life.

'Dammit, Lelouch.' Kallen wasn't about to cry, not over this, when so many tears had already been spent, but she felt pretty close to it. 'Why couldn't you think of a better way? Why couldn't you let me help?'

"Y'know," Tamaki added to the general discussion, "it's funny. I always thought we saved your asses just to make a splash." He waved in Milly and Nina's general direction. "But I guess Lelouch actually cared. Who would'a guessed?"

Ohgi wasn't quite as convinced.

"Did he really care though? Or did he only care because his classmates were there?"

Nunnally rarely reacted to these nasty comments questioning her brother's integrity, but this time Ohgi crossed a line. Speculating about if things had been different was becoming a common feature as they watched, but some speculations didn't need to be entertained. Milly was also turning in disbelief, but before either of them could say anything Tohdoh sighed from the front.

"He would have come, as surely as the sun rises over the dew-stained morning."

The grisled general sat with his eyes shut and his arms locked in front of him, absolutely sure of his answer. No one was willing to argue about it, the subject a mere hypothetical, but Chiba was curious enough to question him.

"Why do you say that?"

He grunted back.

"His choice of words gives him away. It would seem he had several sayings and verbal ticks, one of them being 'The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed.' Based on how often he said it, even when there was no audience to show off for, we can assume he truly believed in its message. That is why he would have saved the hostages regardless if his friends were there."

"Aren't you mad though?" Gino wondered to Tohdoh directly. "You were with the JLF, right? Doesn't it bother you Lelouch killed your buddies?"

Chiba answered for the dour man beside her, snarling, though the blonde knight wasn't the focus of her ire.

"Kusakabe was a fool who brought dishonour upon the Japan Liberation Front!"

"So... You're not mad?"

Tohdoh sighed deeply, the sound seeming almost like a growl to those who didn't know him well. Yes, he'd been upset that Lelouch, as Zero, killed men he once knew by name and respected, and Chiba had shared his distress. But now they had the full context, and couldn't fault Lelouch in the slightest for casting his spell on the JLF splinter group.

"Our orders were to avoid taking brash actions that could jeopordize the future of Japan," he explained with the utmost calm, eyes still closed and arms still crossed. "But Kusakabe disobeyed, resulting in many unnecessary deaths."

Gino couldn't fathom it.

"You're really okay with him being killed?"

"If he'd somehow returned alive, he would have been compelled to commit seppuku, or be put before a firing squad for his shameful acts in Japan's name."

To Tohdoh's right, Xingke let a wan smile creep across his lips.

"It would seem Lelouch did Kusakabe a favour by casting a geass on him to die." He looked to Tohdoh, so stoic, all emotion restrained behind an unfaltering expression of neutrality, and for a moment the two soldiers caught each other's gaze, nodding in unspoken understanding. "It saved him the shame of facing his superior officers in disgrace."

Gino still couldn't fathom it.

"I don't get it."

"It's alright if you don't understand," Sayoko said reassuringly from the very back, adopting the easy tone of the doting maid. "It is a relic of our culture. Many Eastern cultures value honour above all else, and what Kusakabe did by killing civilians was an irreparable stain upon his character. Even the least traditional Japanese among us, and Xingke and Tianzi, should be able to recognize this, even if they don't agree with it."

Zero felt like Sayoko was singling him out when she mentioned the least traditional Japanese in the theatre, but as he looked back at her, curious, but only able to display the barest level of interest to maintain his persona as Zero, he couldn't pick out any derision in her body language. He saw where she was going with her thought, and inwardly nodded in dull surprise. After Kusakabe was dead he'd never spared the man a second thought, always so busy with his schoolwork and military life, so this revelation didn't strike down any particular pre-constructed narrative, unlike so many others that were being shattered about Lelouch and more as the Truth was gradually revealed, one episode at a time.

"You're saying Lelouch salvaged Kusakabe's reputation," Zero stated a little too bluntly. All eyes fell onto him and instantly he regretted saying anything that could draw attention to himself, but it was already too late, so he just continued on. "You think by claiming Kusakabe saw the error of his ways and took his own life by choice, Lelouch gave him the most honourable death possible."

Sayoko smiled pleasantly back at the caped hero, slightly surprised that he of all people would fully comprehend the intention behind her words. From what she gathered from Lelouch's attitude toward Suzaku before he took up the mask, and from her own interactions with him, he had completely repressed everything Japanese about himself, dulling his own mind so he couldn't relate to his own kinsmen's feelings. It was why he refused to join them in rebellion. And why he was the perfect choice to be Zero. He'd already abandoned one piece of himself, so abandoning the rest, leaving only Zero, would be just one more step.

"Kusakabe could have either been killed and died a villain, been sent back to the JLF in disgrace and died there, or died by his own hand after realizing his mistake. I know which I would choose."

It wasn't clear if Lelouch intended it, but he had given Kusakabe the best end possible for him, given the position he'd plopped himself into, and it was a mildly amusing concept for the audience. Like Zero had already noted to himself, it didn't undo any negative preconceptions about Lelouch, but it was thought-provoking.

Gino wasn't really concerned with all that though.

"But..." he wondered. "Could you really afford to be losing your own guys like that back then?"

His question had merit, Kallen thought. The JLF were the largest resistance group in Japan at the time, but being an 'army' instead of a covert force like the Black Knights made it much harder for them to act, and even more importantly, recruit new soldiers. True, most their force were veterans, but it was only logical that over time the number of Japan-era troops would be eroded, for one reason or another. Maybe they'd retire. Maybe they'd desert. Maybe they'd be maimed in battle and be unable to keep up the fight. Or most likely, be killed. As she understood it, there hadn't been much of a stream of new warm bodies to wear their uniform, so the loss of even one JLF member was a hit to the organization as a whole. Kusakabe dying, and losing his entire force as well, would have been a major blow.

Tohdoh obviously knew this. And yet he responded to the young knight without a hint of forgiveness for the misguided lieutenant colonel in his tone.

"In an army, discipline must be kept and examples made, no matter how dire the situation."

Gino could only shrug in defeat, though he still wasn't entirely convinced.

"I guess that's fair..."

Ohgi cleared his throat before the moment could drag on too long.

"Maybe we should just get right into it."

 **It had been two weeks since the Black Knights revealed themselves and-**

"WHAT THE FU-!?"

"Kallen, calm down!"

"Shut up, Ohgi!"

 **Onscreen the camera panned across up Kallen's mostly nude form, only her underwear in place to protect her dignity. She lay atop her bed on her stomach, perfect pink skin visible to all, from her toes to her long, muscled legs, to her-**

Nunnally put a hand to her mouth and sucked in a breath as she winced on the redhead's behalf. Nina leaned forward as her jaw dropped and her cheeks flushed. Milly and Lloyd only turned to each other and giggled, the scientist faking a disappointed sigh, gaining another laugh from the blonde beside him.

"None of the good bits though."

"HEY," Tamaki barked in horror. "I'm sitting right next to her! Don't even joke about that!"

 **There was a crash from somewhere outside Kallen's room and she put on a robe to investigate. Outside her door was a maid, kneeling by a fallen chandalier and a small ladder, one of its steps broken through.**

 **"Well, just get it cleaned up," Kallen ordered after the situation was explained to her. "And be quick about it. I have to leave for school."**

Rivalz reeled back in astonishment.

"Kallen, since when were you so mean?"

"I..." She didn't have an answer. What could she say? "I can't believe it's showing this."

 **"Mistress," the maid began her reply pleasantly, almost eerily so, as if not entirely lucid, "you've been attending school quite a bit lately. Making any friends there?"**

 **"I don't see how that's any of your business!"**

 **Kallen retreated into her room before the maid could see her fighting back tears. There was a picture on her mantle, of her and Naoto, and a woman with her face covered by a sticker.**

The surprises seemed to be coming rapidfire this episode for Rivalz.

"That was your...?"

"Haha!" Everyone turned a questioning eye to Anya as she let out a loud laugh. She sneered down at Kallen on the other side of the aisle and laughed again, deliberately. "I've heard of people treating their mother like a maid, but that's ridiculous."

Kallen clenched her jaw and snarled back.

"And whadd'a you know about it!? HUH!?"

"Nothing," the pinkette replied coldly, the smile on her face forced and dead. "I have no parents."

At this, Kallen wasn't quite sure how to react. Anya took the opportunity to continue on.

"Do you think I'd ever be allowed in the military as early as I was if I had parents? I don't remember clearly if they were still around by the start of the Pacific War, but I'm sure they didn't last long once it started. A certain someone probably had them 'black-bagged' by that point at the latest."

Anya was supposed to be emotionless. She barely knew right from wrong. That's how people knew her. So when was it that she got so dark?

"You mean to say...?" Nunnally turned back to Anya, her eyes shining with empathy for the orphaned knight. "A political killing? But why would someone want your parents...?"

"Because they were in the way. Because there was someone _else_ making decisions for me."

No one dared ask what she meant by that. Her face at that moment was harsh, a cruel smile underneath lifeless eyes, warning against enquiring further. Inside though, Anya was awash with mixed feelings, feeling smugly superior that she had knowledge that few, if anyone else, shared due to her chance witnessing of Marianne's death, but equally filled with despair at what her life had been for so many years with her mind not her own.

'Damn you, Marianne,' she cursed to herself behind her empty smile. 'Damn you forever. I hope everyone sees what you did. Then what will they say about you? I wonder...!'

 **The scene flashed to night as Zero and his men ran through the shadows of a warehouse district, appearing as if from thin air to disrupt the sale and shipment of huge quantities of drugs. They were none other than...**

 **"The Black Knights!"**

 **The setting changed abruptly to a classroom at Ashford just as Kallen stood up, interrupting the lesson to practically shout the rebel faction's name. Apparently she'd fallen asleep and been dreaming of the previous night's activities, but luckily for her everyone merely laughed, not linking her outburst to its true cause. More likely she was simply fascinated by the mysterious group. After all, it was the talk of the entire Area, and most girls under 30 had already caught a case of Zero Fever.**

Amid muted chuckles from the rest of the audience Rivalz nodded to Kallen.

"I remember when you did that," he said sympathetically. "It was pretty cringey, but I think you played it off well."

"Uh..." The redhead wasn't quite sure how to respond. "Thanks?"

 **After the class came to an end the main Ashford group gathered around Kallen to check up on her, Shirley questioning her first.**

 **"That's not like you dozing off in class like that."**

 **"You could learn a thing or two from Lelouch," Rivalz agreed. "He's an expert at sleeping in class."**

 **Sure enough, the standoffish boy was sitting nearby, head held up against his fingers, eyes firmly shut, seemingly in thought.**

Guilford quirked a brow in bemusement.

"Didn't anyone find that a bit..." The knight grappled for the right word. "Unusual?"

Rivalz, Milly, and Nina shared a glance, and a moment later the former two shared a laugh, the blonde grinning widely, though finding herself unable to keep a hint of sorrow from her smile.

"Of course they wouldn't! Lelouch always seemed like he had a lot on his plate, even if we didn't know what it was."

"He was always a mystery," Rivalz added, "even before..."

He didn't have to finish his statement for the rest of the audience to know what he meant, and no one prompted him to continue.

 **Elsewhere, Cornelia was discussing the latest world news with Euphemia and how they should respond. The E.U. was apparently doing quite well in their still ongoing war defending against Britannia, and the elder princess thought Area 11 was just about ready to make a satellite nation, promising increased autonomy and slightly higher recognition of the natives, but most importantly freeing up troops to send to the front. The only obstacles to this were of course Zero, but also the rampant use of refrain among the Eleven populace.**

"Uh, wow, Cornelia," Ohgi started hesitantly, "that's a surprise, coming from you."

The Witch of Britannia frowned, actually quite offended at the implied insult.

"Refrain is a disgusting substance that kills the mind. Why would you think I'd approve of it being abused by my subjects?"

"Well, I mean..." Now that he thought of it, he didn't really have an answer. Kallen did though.

"If you were so against it, why didn't you take measures to stop the Refrain Trade, rather than leaving it for us to clean up?"

"If you'll recall," Cornelia began her overtly annoyed reply, "I was busy _governing_ a colonial territory and hunting Zero and others. I didn't have time for such a comparatively small issue. If it were the only problem facing the Area I would have cracked down of that vile industry and executed everyone involved personally."

 **Onscreen the princess continued.**

 **"Productivity is plummetting."**

"Of course," Kallen prodded sarcastically, "because the only one allowed to exploit the Japanese was you, right?"

Cornelia didn't reply, instead taking a long breath, her face betraying her frustration. A few rows behind her, Anya jabbed Jeremiah in the side with her elbow.

"Why did you guys break up their fight, anyway?"

The cyborg's one visible eye flitted to Sayoko before he answered in a whisper for both of them.

"It's best if we wait until everything's been revealed. Then we can make an informed judgement who deserves to die."

"Sounds like a plan." Anya smirked in amusement and shrugged. "But don't get your hopes up. Everyone's already at each other's throats - I'm sure they'll be more than happy to kill each other off when this is over, saving you the effort."

Jeremiah's expression grew firm and he scowled.

"No one will deny us vengeance for His Majesty. Our _loyalty_ will not allow it."

"Our loyalty..." It was a somewhat foreign concept for the pinkette, and one she was still trying to get used to. "Am I also...?"

 **Cornelia declared her intentions of having Euphemia take over as viceroy after Zero was dealt with, but the younger princess was barely listening. She was thinking back to when she was face to face with Zero at Lake Kawaguchi. He'd pulled his gun on her, but then, for some unknown reason, didn't pull the trigger, leaving her with a cryptic excuse:**

 _ **"But I suppose for now..."**_

 **The Pink Princess really didn't know what to make of it.**

Zero had never shaken the feeling since Euphemia died that she'd known more than she let on. Her behaviour toward the Zero of that day - toward Lelouch - had stuck him as odd even then, and now he found himself pondering a question he'd long since repressed.

'Did Euphie know that Zero was Lelouch?'

So far there was no indication from what he was seeing onscreen that she did, but maybe she figured it out later... And so what if she did? Did it really change that much? Lelouch had still killed her.

Milly didn't share Zero's grim outlook on Lelouch and Euphemia's relationship, and made a mental note to herself.

'Yep, that's definitely a Lulu-Euphie moment.'

 **Back at Ashford, a new day had started and Kallen shuffled to the Student Council room with lidded eyes. Since Zero showed up she'd been losing a lot of sleep, and unlike the rest of the Black Knights, didn't have the luxury of sleeping when morning came.**

 **As she approached the clubroom door Kallen heard a commotion coming from inside, and what she saw upon entering was only slightly more outrageous than usual for the Council.**

At the sight of the Ashford group dressed as cats Villetta visibly winced, recalling her time as a teacher and the constant, similar antics Milly would get up to. She hated Lelouch, to be sure, but seeing him tied to a chair as his friends painted violet whiskers on his cheeks, she found it difficult not to empathize with his discomfort.

"You looked so cute!" Kugaya cheered from the front. "You really know how to wear a costume, Miss Milly. Oh, and you too, Rivalz."

Nina's lips quirked into the start of a frow, feeling quite alone and forgotten.

"I was there too..."

Rivalz laughed in embarrassment while Milly smiled to Kaguya in thanks and looked back to Nina, as if to share some of the compliment with her. Beside her, Lloyd grinned broadly and was about to say something, but before he could Cécile stopped him.

"Careful what you say, Lloyd." The bluette ignored his protests and turned instead to Milly. "Don't mind this guy. You probably know better than most he's not tactful with women."

"Cécile, Cécile," he pouted back, arms crossed, "you have so little faith in me! I was only going to agree with... What's her name again? She hasn't got any screentime yet."

The engineer was referring to Kaguya, and as he and his assistant began to bicker, Milly giggled to herself, rather flattered by Lloyd's unexpected praise. Behind them Gino spoke up.

"Did you get dressed up too, Kallen?" He glanced across the aisle to her with a smile, flashing his teeth. "I'd love to see that."

The redhead returned the gesture pleasantly, her smile not reaching her voice.

"Keep dreaming."

While this was going on, Cornelia and Guilford looked back and forth, from one speaker to the next in bewilderment. When Nunnally had first explained they were going to be witnessing 'The Truth' neither of them would have predicted they'd be seeing high schoolers have a costume party. In fact, it seemed like there was a whiplash of tones in what was portrayed onscreen, each setting cutting to the next in rapid succession to cram as much information and as many perspectives as possible into each episodic segment. Not to say they couldn't handle the breakneck pace, but it was at odds with the pacing of every other history documentary in existence, if what they were seeing could even be called that.

Near to Kaguya, chatting away with Tianzi, Tohdoh sat in stony slience, only those who knew him the best having the faintest clue what was going on underneath his humourless expression. Beside him, Chiba was slightly more open about her feelings, her elbow on the seat rest and her head propped against her fist. As far as she could tell, almost everyone in the theatre was completely fine with this bizarre scene, herself not being one of them. Even Empress Nunnally was smiling, sparkles in her eyes.

The once-blind girl couldn't help but be astounded at what she saw, having the unique chance to actually _see_ all the little things she missed when she was at Ashford. She'd heard about the welcoming party for Arthur the Cat and felt a little left out at the time, but seeing the costumes now, years later, she really wished she could have been present for it. If only she'd been a couple years older...

 **Much to Kallen's chagrin, Shirley pointed out a rack of frilly, catlike clothes nearby and told her to get into one as well. Then Lelouch spoke.**

 **"She doesn't need a costume." He sounded so mysterious, unable to keep a hint of satisfaction from his voice, as if he was getting away with something in plain sight. "You're already wearing a mask, right?"**

"Ha!" Anya laughed matter-of-factly. "I get it."

Kallen, and the others who'd been there at the time, did too, finally understanding Lelouch's cryptic comment. He meant that how she acted in public wasn't who she truly was inside, hiding her fiery spirit underneath layers of apathy, enough that she might as well have been a different person. And he was right. From what she'd seen already she could tell Lelouch had her all figured out from the start, partially, she imagined, because he was exactly the same. He was filled with hate and compassion, rage and sorrow, yet he couldn't show any of it, just in case he stood out too prominently in a crowd and was discovered for his royal heritage.

At the time Kallen didn't know what he was getting at with his remark, and thought he was laughing at her expense, but now she had a much clearer picture of the man she had fallen in love with. So, while she glared at him onscreen, in her seat in the present a bittersweet smile came to her face to think the aloof Student Council Vice-President may have actually been empathizing with her, veiled as it may have been to preserve his own mask.

 **During the news coverage of the Lake Kawaguchi Incident Shirley, Milly, and Nina were caught on camera a few times, and since then they'd become plagued by their fame. In response to Kallen's offhand retort to Lelouch, Shirley recounted how they'd become trapped in the school to avoid people on the streets recognizing them and asking questions. Even so, they were still stopped by fellow classmates all the time. Even in the bath.**

An image of them naked in a communal bath, presumably on campus, surrounded by other undressed girls flashed onscreen as if to support Shirley's assertion, and Tamaki and Rivalz gasped, in horror, in uncertainty.

"WHY DOES IT KEEP DOING THAT!?"

"Should I be seeing this?"

 **Onscreen Rivalz was feeling a little more snarky about the whole situation.**

 **"Not that I don't feel for you, but I don't see why we can't leave either."**

 **"Hm," Milly hummed in brief thought before giving her explanation. "That's the price of friendship. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms: 'It matters not that we were born apart. Upon this day we die as one.'"**

Tianzi's face lit up as she recognized the quote, and beside her Xingke smirked.

"'If I go down, then we all do.'"

 **"If I go down, then we all do."**

Rivalz blinked in dull surprise as Xingke predicted Milly's exact words.

"That's uncanny."

 **For Kallen, the casual talk between friends and rounds of laughter was heartwarming, and she found it surreal that some of them might not have been alive if not for her and the Black Knights saving them at Lake Kawaguchi. Ever since that night Zero had stepped up their operations, taking out every enemy of the people he could find, from terrorists who involved civilians, to the overbearing military, criminal syndicates, and even corrupt politicians and profiteers.**

 **A montage of the Black Knights' exploits flashed by, but one in particular stood out to the audience, of a man bound from the top of a lamppost with a sign reading 'GRAFT CORRUPTION' hanging below.**

Tohdoh shook his head and grunted in disappointment.

"What a shameful display. Justice should be carried out swiftly and silently, not be made a spectacle."

"To be fair," Xingke answered, "Lelouch was only doing what he needed to. It's apparent from what we're seeing that the Black Knights were weak, but by acting so brazonly and leaving public traces of their work it created the illusion of power, which could only be a good thing for him."

Kaguya put a finger to her chin in thought.

"Like power projection?"

"Kind of," Gino replied with a shrug. "More importantly though, publicly hanging criminals isn't anything new in Britannia. The Black Knights just did it unofficially without state sponsorship."

The Britannians in the room already knew this. Cornelia in particular happened to be known as quite fond of such capital punishments during her reign as viceroy, and even before that as well. The others in the room weren't especially surprised, except for Tianzi, who shuddered at the unpleasantness that was reality outside the safety of her palace, but Chiba still decided to weigh in on the matter.

"How barbaric," she said with obvious contempt in her voice. "Do you think you still live in Medieval Europe?"

Lloyd let out a long chuckle and narrowed his eyes accusingly.

"Weren't you part of the group just saying not to judge someone's culture?" His smile widened as Chiba's haughty expression faltered, quite amused at how she reacted to being caught in a moment of hypocrisy. "Besides, pretty much every tradition in the Empire came from those lovely days of illiteracy and bubonic plague. Why would you think hanging is off the table?"

"As far as the nobility cared," Kallen added, looking straight at Cornelia with unreserved mockery, "the Middles Ages never ended."

Though Cornelia didn't appreciate the obvious attempt at an insult, she really couldn't argue with the redhead's claim. Up until Lelouch abolished the Peerage, many old traditions had endured in Britannian society, especially among the nobility, holding through the centuries all the way into the modern age. Perhaps that's why they resisted him so when he declared his sole rulership of the Empire. Formerly, it was the right of every nobleman to maintain a retinue of troops, though not every one did, and many barons and earls fought back with everything they had - because Lelouch wasn't just taking Britannia in a new direction, but shattering its culture. And perhaps it was because of this, after his death, it was so easy for Nunnally to create a new national character of peace and harmony within the global community.

It was almost like he'd planned it that way all along...

"Exactly!" Anya threw out her arms theatrically as she agreed with Lloyd and Kallen. "So how about we have a good old fashioned witch-burning? We've got one at our place who keeps ordering pizza, and even turned me into a newt!"

Tianzi's face fell in naive bewilderment.

"Did you get better?"

"Speaking of which," Rivalz interjected, "I'm starting to get hungry. How long have we been watching?"

Rakshata considered.

"It's been almost four hours."

Nunnally hadn't really expected this viewing to take so long, but she was invested now, and wasn't about to stop the show. However, she'd invited everyone to join her, and was effectively the host of, as Lloyd had originally put it, a 'movie night', so after a moment to think, she nodded in assent.

"I guess it's alright if we got some food. How does Pizza Hut sound, everyone?"

A small cheer erupted from Rivalz and others around the theatre, and without any need for further confirmation, Nunnally touched a button on the armrest of her wheelchair. A moment later the double doors behind the rows of seats opened and an imperial guard stepped in and knelt at Nunnally's side.

"We'll be requiring food," the Britannian Empress stated as regally as her delicate form allowed. "Please arrange for the nearest Pizza Hut to cater. And... Oh-!" she accidentally dropped her formal persona as she looked around the theatre, "-Are there any requests?"

There were some murmurs from around the theatre, but it seemed no one had any particular preferences. Anya raised a hand.

"Can I get a charger for my phone?"

Nunnally blinked at the former Knight of Six in dull confusion.

"But the WiFi is turned off. Why would you need your phone?"

"You turned it OFF!?" The pinkette was appalled. "I thought we just didn't have any connectivity around here!"

Then, all at once, Anya remembered who she was speaking to and changed her tactics.

"Please turn it back on?" she asked, as cutely as she could. "Pleeeease? I promise I'll pay attention to the DVDs."

As Jeremiah began to reprimand the girl beside him, Nunnally scrunched her face in bemusement then forced a smile as she addressed her guard once more.

"Also bring a phone charger and have the WiFi turned back on."

"You're the best!" Anya cheered, ignoring Jeremiah. Nunnally simply looked the other girl in the eye with as much sternness as she could muster.

"I'll have it shut off again if you focus more on your phone than what we're watching."

Anya did her best to politely reassure the queen, though ruining it by waving her hand dismissively, and Nunnally motioned for the guard to get closer, whispering something into his ear then sending him off.

"The food will be on its way," she declared to the rest of the audience once the guard had left and they were alone with the damning DVDs once more. "While we wait, let's try to finish this episode."

 **Much later, Nina was at the computer in the clubroom, as usual, but she stopped her work as she was reminded of a moment that was burned into her memory.**

 _ **Euphemia turned to her - TO HER - and asked her:**_

 _ **"Are you alright, young lady?"**_

 **There was a closeup of Nina's cheeks as she thought about the Pink Princess, and they were clearly flushed red.**

Nina was finding herself hiding deeper and deeper in the folds of her theatre chair in an attempt to escape everyone else's gaze. Cornelia in particular seemed quite uncomfortable with Nina's private scenes, and worst of all they were sitting right next to each other. Nina shivered to herself.

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

 **Time skipped ahead yet again and now it was a weekend, and there was visitor to the Stadtfeld home.**

 **"Madam President?" Kallen wondered as the maid, her own mother, opened the door for Milly to enter. The blonde was clearly uncomfortable being there.**

 **"I just dropped by to give you something."**

 **"Huh?"**

 **Shina Kozuki looked to her daughter dutifully.**

 **"Where would you like me to show her to? The parlor perhaps? Or maybe-"**

 **Kallen frowned and interrupted, a little too forcefully.**

 **"We'll be in my room."**

"Jeez, Kallen," Ohgi started, his mouth agape. "We knew your situation was bad with your mom, but you shouldn't have treated her like that."

Kallen averted her gaze and gave her half-hearted reply.

"Yeah, I know."

Next Tamaki had to chastise her, and he gave her a foul look and shook his head at her. She really didn't think he of all people should be wagging his finger at her.

"What would Naoto say, huh?"

And yet, here they were. They were on pretty good terms with Shina from the days when Naoto was still around, and hated seeing her being mistreated. And Kallen knew, if she didn't say something to stop them now, those two would continue taking turns shaming her for as long as this (what could it even be called - a story arc?) went on.

"Shut up and watch! I changed my opinion of her, you'll see!"

 **At that moment, Mrs. Stadtfeld came down the staircase and added her own, cruel commentary.**

 **"Oh. I heard you had a friend down here. I was sure it would be a boy - out all night and missing school!**

Kallen couldn't help but let out a single derisive huff at that horrid woman's assumption. After all, now that she thought about it, a boy was indeed the reason why she'd been out so much - the most incredible boy she'd ever known.

 **The hostility between stepmother and daughter was palpable, and after trading retorts there was a crash and all eyes turned to Shina, a broken vase at her feet.**

Kallen hadn't noticed at the time, she figured because of her anger at her mother, but though it wasn't explicit, it seemed to her that Shina had knocked the vase over on purpose to disrupt the argument. It certainly fit with what Kallen later learned about her. She was willing to take on all the hurt for the both of them, to protect her only remaining child - much like Lelouch's sacrifice for the whole world, she thought.

Seeing these events again with a different perspective, Kallen made the connection between behaviour and motive easily, and a shiver ran through her chest and down her arms at the selflessness Shina, and Lelouch, had shown, and the regret she felt at not appreciating them more at the time.

But now was not the time for crying. Kallen had to keep reminding herself of that.

 **"Can't you do anything right?" the new Mrs. Stadtfeld spat at the former. "Besides selling your body, that is."**

Gino cringed and sucked in a breath.

"Oooh, that's harsh...!"

 **Milly had come to deliver Kallen's school transcripts in person, the documents going back to middle school and thereby outing her as half-Japanese. It was a small gesture of camaraderie** **to keep the secret for the redhead, but at the mention of her mother Kallen burst.**

 **"My mother is such a fool. In the end she wound up a servant. She doesn't have any real skills.**  
 **And no matter who's ridiculing her, all she can do is laugh like it's nothing. She didn't have to choose to**  
 **stay in this house, you know? She's just clinging some old lover who's jilted her!"**

 **The conversation had gotten quite heavy and unpleasant rather quickly, so Milly tried to lighten the mood a little.**

 **"Imagine, the wife and the daughter and the other woman all living together."**

 **"Ah, it could be worse," Kallen answered, playing along. "Three square meals and a roof, right? I mean, it's not unbearable; most of the time, anyway."**

 **There really wasn't anything more that could be said, and the scene ended with Milly reassuring Kallen that she wouldn't tell anyone that she wasn't full-Britannian.**

"I apologize."

Milly turned to gawk at Chiba.

"What?"

"I..." The warrior woman looked like she was fighting the get the words out. "You weren't entirely oblivious like I first thought. I misjudged you."

"Oh...!" The Ashford girl didn't know much about Chiba except that she'd been especially confrontational since she arrived, and wasn't sure exactly how to speak to her. "That's okay..."

 **At that same moment, quite unknown to her daughter, Shina Kozuki trembled in her room of the Stadtfeld manor. It was prohibitively small, and the walls were covered in crude and abusive slogans, presumably written by the other maids. She opened a locked compartment of her desk, the only other furniture besides her bed, revealing a suggestive flask.**

There was a collective dropping of jaws and widening of mouths from the Ashford group as they saw something Kallen would have preferred remain a secret. Ohgi and Tamaki already knew that her mother was a refrain addict, but it came as a shock to the Britannians, reminding them once again just how little they truly knew about their friend. Of course, there were some whose reactions were slightly more muted. Jeremiah only shook his head in disappointment while Anya and others showed no sign of interest either way. Cornelia tsked in disgust, but otherwise had the decency not to say anything.

"Kallen," Nunnally comforted, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know..."

"Yeah." Kallen kept her tone neutral. "That was the point of having a double life."

Behind his mask, Zero was shaken more than anyone by what he saw. He had never asked Kallen about her mom, even after learning her heritage. He'd claimed to care about his people, about all the Japanese living under Britannia, and yet never had the thought to ask Kallen, his professedly dear friend, about her Japanese mother, to see how she was coping with the colonization or even just what she was like. He'd never so much as brought up the subject.

And now he was finding out that she'd been a junkie. On refrain no less! So when he threatened to use that same drug on Kallen when she was imprisoned... No wonder she had such a strong revulsion to it, even betraying her usual indomitable exterior and starting to cry like the teenage girl she really was. She'd pleaded for him to stop, she'd cried out in terror, not because she was afraid of revealing what she knew about Lelouch, as Zero - as Suzaku - had assumed at the time, but because she had a personal history with refrain. It wasn't clear yet exactly how that history had been resolved, but based on her fear of it more than a year later, Zero was sure it hadn't been pleasant. No doubt she had seen her mother using the drug, had seen her completely addled and beyond reaching with mere words. Or maybe Shina even died because of its side-effects.

Whatever had actually happened though, Zero felt a fresh wave of guilt wash over him for almost going through with drugging Kallen, alone together in her high-security prison chamber. He was appalled with himself. He may have stopped before actually using it, but to think he'd even even considered doing something so cruel...! He hadn't considered how incredibly unethical it had been, and had no idea the added hurt of using that particular narcotic. And if he recalled right, even after pummeling him when he tried to apologize, Kallen still didn't forgive him.

Knowing what he knew now, he didn't think she ever should.

 **That same day at school, Suzaku was unpacking toys and housing for his new best friend Arthur the Cat while Lelouch sat nearby reading. They were discussing the Lake Kawaguchi Incident, the topic still fresh in everyone's minds even then. Lelouch suggested that the Black Knights were heroes. Suzaku couldn't see past the fact they were vigilantes. By his reckoning, they'd accomplish more for Area 11 by joining the police force.**

Tamaki harrumphed.

"The cops wouldn't let us in even if we wanted to cozy up to them!"

"They were bought out like the rest," Kallen agreed simply. "He doesn't know what he's talking about with that 'evoke change from within' crap." She shook her head in frustration. "You can't change a system that's inflexible from top to bottom. It's like he thought Britannia was a democratic nation or something and not an absolute monarchy. Idiot."

Behind his mask Zero let out a small, inaudible sigh. He deserved this. His philosophy - Suzaku's philosophy - had been incorrect, he could see that now, and he deserved every criticism hurled his way.

"Your conclusions are fair, Miss Kozuki," he responded to the redhead, as formally as he could fake, every sign of sincerity in his altered, metallic voice. But contrary to what he may have expected, that she might show him some respect for changing his attitude, Kallen cast a disgusted glare his way.

"You aren't gonna to defend Suzaku? Where's your spine, huh? The real Zero would say something insightful on Suzaku's behalf, but you just talk and talk and say nothing at all."

Zero honestly couldn't figure that girl out.

 **Lelouch wasn't as convinced, but Suzaku refused to budge on his position.**

 **"If they had done everything in their power to change things, that might hold water," he argued, countering Lelouch when he brought up the Black Knights simply avoiding the overbearing bureaucracy. "As long as they don't, then all of it's just self-righteous posturing."**

 **"Self-righteous?" Lelouch's face darkened, his true self filtering through his mask of indifference ever so slightly.**

 **"And what constitutes evil in their eyes? What standards are they using? It's nothing but self-satisfying gratification!"**

Rakshata reclined in her seat and let out her usual long laugh, flicking her pipe at Suzaku onscreen.

"Finally a good point from the boy."

Far to the front Kaguya nodded in agreement.

"He was terrible at stringing words together to make an argument, and he got a little redundant at the end, but he had the right idea. Vigilantes aren't beholden to the public - only their leader and themselves - and consequentially have no oversight whatsoever. If Lelouch hadn't been the one in charge, the Black Knights might have committed really atrocious acts in the name of 'the greater good'.

At his cousin's words, Zero again reflected on his past actions. He'd been so blind! How could he not have seen what he was doing was exactly what he was criticizing Zero for!? He was so sure of himself just because he had a higher standard, the Royal Law of Britannia, that he'd done horrible things; putting down rebellions, conquering sovereign nations... And he'd always justified it precisely as Kaguya put it: For the greater good.

The Black Knights didn't obey any higher standard, or tether themselves to a higher authority. They just did what Lelouch said, and he did only what was necessary for victory. They were the same, Suzaku and Lelouch. They had complete opposite sources of morality, and yet their actions were dicated by the same principle of ends justifying the means. Lelouch just had the decency to admit it from the start.

From her corner of the theatre Cornelia nodded.

"He was right about self-satisfaction too. Lelouch was clearly using the Black Knights to sate his thirst for revenge. He was just starting with the lowest offenders and working his way up..."

 **The door to the clubroom opened and Shirley stepped in, noting only Lelouch and Suzaku were present. At seeing her, Suzaku stood up from his task and excused himself, glancing back at Lelouch then to Shirley with a knowing smile.**

 **"Anyway, I guess I gotta go back to the base pretty soon." He winked to her before stepping out, a small gesture to confirm that he was only leaving so she could be alone with her crush. "See you around, Shirley."**

Initially the audience had been conflicted about seeing people who'd died in this retelling of their shared pasts, but that had mostly passed by now. Milly in particular had decided not to miss Shirley every time she came onscreen, and simply enjoy those few precious moments of nostalgia, of a time that was beyond lost to her.

"That was a Shirley and Suzaku moment," she chirped. "But maybe we'll have a Shirley-Lulu moment to even the tally."

 **As Suzaku left, there was a moment when Lelouch was featured onscreen. The look on his face was of cold fury, outraged at his friend's obdurance.**

 **Shirley was too busy saying goodbye to Suzaku and didn't seem to notice, and stepped up the Student Council Vice-President purposefully.**

 **"So, Lulu..." She was trying to be strong, to tell him how she felt about him since they were alone, but the words just weren't coming. "I was, um... I was thinking if you had some time, you and I-!"**

 **Lelouch didn't so much as look up from his magazine as he interrupted the girl.**

 **"'Back to base', now that was an interesting choice of words."**

 **Shirley had been blushing, but it quickly faded as Lelouch killed the mood.**

 **'"Go back"', he thought to himself, Shirley utterly invisible to him, 'implying that's where he thinks he belongs!'**

"Oh..." Rivalz didn't see that coming. Villetta did.

"Shirley always picked the worst times." Her tone was somber, and the former coach didn't get any negative feedback for her comment. A lot more had happened between her and the orangette than she would have liked, but now that she was dead Villetta couldn't bring herself to have any ill feelings toward her anymore.

Behind his mask Zero frowned.

'Lelouch! It was a misunderstanding! Where I belonged was always...'

From his spot by Kallen, Tamaki sat in stunned silence. But that never lasted long.

"REJECTED."

 **Much later Kallen was taking a walk through the Tokyo Settlement and talking on the phone with Ohgi. She hadn't heard about refrain, or else wasn't high enough in the chain of command to learn the details until now. The Black Knights were planning a raid, presumably on bigtime refrain dealers of some kind since they were wanted to bring their new Burai. They didn't go into the specifics over the phone though.**

 **Nearby, an Honourary Britannian was being bullied by a group of Britannians and Kallen's attention shifted onto the abuse with righteous alacrity. She stepped forward, unthinking, her first instinct telling her to be a hero and draw way too much attention to herself, but she was stopped, a hand coming down upon her shoulder.**

Kallen remembered that day, and that moment specifically. The Honourary Britannian was a street vendor, and while Kallen could only think to save him, Lelouch was playing the long game, and knew intervening would bring even more attention to the poor kid. And it wouldn't be positive. According to him, the former Eleven had accepted the possibility of ethnic and class violence when he got his license to work in the settlement proper, and was just paying the unnofficial toll to do business.

Kallen hadn't agreed with Lelouch at the time, and she didn't think she could even now, but back then her opinion of the boy was quite low, and his words had just seemed like apathetic fence-sitting. She hadn't noticed the coldness in his voice or the harsh look on his face, nor the strength in his grip as he held her back. If only she'd paid just a sliver more attention, she might have realized there was more to Lelouch than what he usually showed.

 **"You got a problem over there?" The Britannian attackers must have noticed Kallen's hostility and turned on her next. "Not feeling sorry for this Eleven, are ya?"**

 **"Nah," said another of their gang as they surrounded Kallen and Lelouch, "they feel the same way we do, don't you guys?"**

 **Lelouch had already killed more people personally than these five would in their whole lives. Their attempts to act tough didn't so much as phase him.**

 **"Not quite," he replied with a smirk and his left eye flashing red, "but** _ **you're tired of beating up Elevens now**_ **, aren't you?"**

Kallen couldn't help but feel slow as she only now understood how Lelouch managed to convince those thugs to leave. Geass. He embedded a command into an innocuous phrase so no passersby, and Kallen, would notice they were suddenly obeying a kid with hardly a muscle on his body.

Gino grinned.

"Smooth."

 **As the gang walked off, showing no outward signs of being magically brainwashed Lelouch feigned surprise, keeping up the act of a simple schoolboy. Kallen was still more preoccupied with the Honourary Britannian. He'd been beaten rather harshly, out in public in front of everyone, and she rushed to check on him, ignoring Lelouch entirely.**

 **"Hey," she began softly, "are you alright?"**

 **The man was in a daze, and as he looked upon his saviour he saw the emblem of Ashford Academy on her tie.**

 **"Huh?" Almost immediately he smiled and tried his hardest to appear friendly and professional. His livelihood depended on making sales, and he couldn't sell food if he was lying in pain on the sidewalk. "A Britannian student! What can I get for you? How about a nice California hot dog, miss? Is this your boyfriend? I can get him something too! I have ice cream, if you like."**

 **Kallen hadn't wanted to believe Lelouch. She wanted things to be black and white, oppressed and oppressor. But it wasn't that simple. With the vendor launching into a sales pitch with no time spent to dwell on his physical condition, Kallen understood. Lelouch was right. The Honourary Britannian was being oppressed, yes, but he accepted it. It was just a cost of business to him.**

 **And it horrified her.**

 **She talked about it with Lelouch afterwards and he gave a noncommittal answer. In some ways, he reasoned, Area 11 was better off than the old Japan ever was. As a colony of the Empire their military and economic position in the world was assured, and the natives could easily attain full citizenship through the legal process. And as citizens they'd be guaranteed the same rights and privileges as their fellow Britannians, though, for whatever reason, the police never seemed to enforce them.**

Chiba shook her head, her biases getting in the way of her rational thought.

"How could he defend Britannia's actions? Even in passing!"

On the opposite side of the theatre Rivalz rolled his eyes.

"What'd I say about Lelouch saying things he didn't mean or agree with?"

Gino meanwhile practically had stars in his eyes as he sat entranced by the events playing out onscreen. He never got to know Diethard in the short while they were on the same side, and hadn't seen much of him in general while watching this mysterious DVD, but Gino thought he understood the man's instant obsession with Zero, or rather, Lelouch.

"The hidden meanings to what he says, the constant subterfuge...!" Despite the drama and tragedy surrounding the events being portrayed onscreen, and even knowing it was, as far as anyone could tell, a one-hundred percent accurate representation, Gino still found it to be an immense pleasure to watch Lelouch fool every person around him. "I love it."

 **"And?" Kallen wondered to Lelouch, sitting beside her on a bench staring out at a massive fountain display at the center of the park.**

 **"Hm?"**

 **"Knowing all that," she clarified, "what does Lelouch Lamperouge think about it at all? What do you wanna do?"**

 **His answer was a simple one.**

 **"Nothing."**

 **"You know, you've got a lot of brains but you don't seem to be doing much with them. It's all Shirley talks about, saying how intelligent you are but how you barely ever apply yourself."**

 **Lelouch didn't seem thankful for the compliment, nor did he seem perturbed by the following slight.**

 **"That's why I don't do anything," he explained cooly. "That Eleven we saw back there could tell you. He could lead a better life as long as he bows his head to Britannia."**

 **At this, Kallen thought of her mom.**

 **She stood up and slapped him.**

The scene wasn't exactly funny, but Tamaki was Tamaki and laughed anyway.

"He was just striking out with the ladies that day!"

"Fascinating," Sayoko said suddenly from her place toward the back.

Anya turned to look past Jeremiah at the ninja-maid questioningly. Sayoko didn't have to answer though. She wasn't the only one who'd picked up on the hidden meaning in what Lelouch had said onscreen. Nunnally's brow furrowed as she considered his words carefully.

"If he didn't have any troubles at all in Britannia he'd have no reason to bow," she explained, mostly for Kallen's benefit, who listened to the Empress's interpretation of her brother's words with interest. "He was directly telling you that he wasn't showing his true self; he was suppressing it so he could live a better life - so I could..."

Rakshata hummed in thought.

"That was also just Lelouch Lamperouge's answer. I wonder what Lelouch vi Britannia would have said? Or what Zero would have said...?"

The scene continued and Guilford groaned at what he saw.

"Then he smiles about being slapped? I can't follow him."

Kallen understood though. It was so subtle, but that one gesture that she missed by walking away held a deep meaning, and it filled her breast with pride. She thought he was content to submit to the system, even knowing the injustices it caused and allowed. It was an affront to her that he could see the corruption and abuses yet not bother to do anything, instead taking whatever he could and going about his business, like it didn't even bother him that the system was malicious.

And so she slapped him, then proceeded to lecture him for what she perceived as indifference. That kind of life wasn't for her. She couldn't just sit idly by and let the injustices continue. Lelouch's smile was the subtlest of acknowledgements that, underneath his persona of dispassion, he approved of her attitude and willingness to fight in all Japan's name for what she knew was right.

Milly understood too, and she murmured to herself.

"That's definitely a point to Kallen and Lelouch being together."

 **That night in a quiet bar Jeremiah and Villetta sat together, the only customers around, having the whole place to themselves. Villetta asked about Orange, much to Jeremiah's discomfort, but rather than condemning him like the others, she corroborated his story with her own anecdotal evidence. During the Purge of Shinjuku she'd lost her memory as well, but only after running into a teenager in a high school uniform.**

Almost everyone was more than a little surprised by this, never really expecting Villetta to become a potential major player against Lelouch. Zero knew exactly how entangled she eventually became with his old friend, but even he never thought it had started so early.

"Oh shit!" Tamaki cursed in shock. "You knew!"

Villetta only groaned in reply to her least favourite person in the room.

"I didn't know, I only had a small lead."

Yes, it was only a small lead, wasn't it? But, Ohgi wondered, just how far did that lead take her? In all the chaos since they got back together, he'd never been able to probe too deeply into the subject, that question being the whole reason why he'd even met her in the first place. And after the war neither of them had wanted to spend a single thought on Lelouch, so it had only fallen even farther from his mind.

But now his curiousity was reignited, and for the first time since the Black Rebellion Ohgi pondered exactly what connection Villetta might have eventually come to have to Lelouch. He could always just ask her as he highly doubted his wife would lie or refuse to answer, but he also thought it might be a good talk to have in private, and not surrounded by questionable former friends and foes in an enclosed theatre. For now, he decided, he'd just have to wait to see for himself what happened between the prince and the woman he loved.

 **At the time moment in a shadier part of town the Black Knights stood at the ready, waiting for their leader's signal to strike. Tamaki still didn't fully trust Zero, and couldn't see the reasoning behind their latest moves, but Ohgi and Sugiyama defended the new direction their group was taking. They were all too happy to take the law into their own hands, and it was gratifying to know there was a growing number of people around the world calling them heroes on the internet.**

 **Kallen wasn't so certain.**

 **"Are we in the right?" she wondered, the conclusion to her earlier talk with Lelouch clearly troubling her. "I don't know any more."**

 **All too quickly though the moment of reflection came to an end as Minami spotted Zero's signal and the Black Knights prepared to move in.**

"We always wondered how he could get past any security," Ohgi mused to no one in particular. "He was just full of suprises."

 **The Black Knights' target this time was another refrain shipment just in from Nagoya. Unfortunately for them, without any warning a spray of bullets poured through one of the gates to their warehouse, killing several of the cartel workers instantly. Tamaki, contrary to his earlier protests, was the first one in after kicking through the now-tattered metal barrier, and he gleefully opened fire with his rifle on every criminal in sight.**

 **The cartel guards responded at once, taking cover behind workbenches and firing back with their own weapons as vials of refrain set atop them exploded in the back and forth storm of bullets. But their defense didn't last long as Kallen burst into the warehouse in her new Glasgow, painted red, of course, and pressed the attack.**

 **She drove her knightmare straight through an interior gate like the first one the Knights had breached and paused to check her surroundings. She'd entered some kind of holding area where people currently under the effects of refrain walked aimlessly, entirely lost in their memories.**

 **Shina Kozuki was one of them.**

There was only silence in the theatre, each set of eyes glued to the giant screen in front of them. A few in the audience knew how this would play out, but the rest were shocked at what they were seeing. The refrain users were a wretched sight to behold, even the most jaded or ambivilent finding they couldn't look away.

The Ashford group and Gino were wide-eyed and their jaws hung open, all of them feeling slightly queasy at the drug-induced mania the addicts were displaying. Nina was more horried than simply astounded like the others, all of her previous and still remaining racism toward Japanese momentarily forgotten as she held her hands across her cheeks, hiding the bottom half of her face at the of what those people had been driven to. Britannia had caused those people, all of which had promising futures, to lose hope and resort to drugs. It was awful to think that she, by the mere fact she was Britannian too, had partially brought those people to ruin. She'd moved to Area 11 specifically to attend Ashford Academy once she entered the 10th Grade, an opportunity for her bought by the suffering of the Japanese. It made her sick

Anya had a different reaction. She was trembling, almost shaking as nightmarish flashbacks streamed through her mind. She'd lived for eight years in a near-constant state of mental vacancy just like those junkies, all thanks to Marianne's Geass, and this unexpected and visceral reminder shook her to the core.

A firm hand came down on Anya's shoulder and she looked to her right in distress, her panicked pink eyes meeting the unwavering orange of Jeremiah's. He didn't say a word, didn't move, just held Anya's shoulder reassuringly, until the girl slowly began to relax.

 **Shina stumbled and Kallen reached out with her Glasgow's hand to catch her. It was hard for her seeing her mother like this, and she momentarily lost track of what was going on around her.**

 **There was a rattle of gunfire then a pelting sound as Kallen's knightmare was hammered by bullets, blowing its right arm off completely. A white and blue Glasgow had come out of the shadows, a member of the Knight Police, specialized officers given outdated military equipment to help 'keep the peace', and it was firing on Kallen.**

Cornelia growled in rage.

"Corrupt police taking money from drug-dealers! Degenerate filth!"

The way she saw it, the police were servants of the Crown, and anything less than undivided loyalty was as good as treason. And her punishment for traitors was summary execution. The Black Knights had been her enemy, but at least they were doing her a favour by purging her ranks of those who couldn't be counted on to act with the dignity expected of them.

 **Kallen was in a bad positon and had to retreat, but the officer followed after her. It would be so much easier for her to fight back if only she could ditch her mom... But no, Kallen couldn't bring herself to do it, and her frame was crippled by the other knightmare's armour-piercing bullets.**

 **As the Knight Policeman ran out of bullets and approached Kallen's downed Glasgow, Shina turned, smiling directly up into her daughter's factphere. Her face filled Kallen's visual display in her cockpit and she spoke:**

 **"I'm here for you. I'm here for you, Kallen! I'm here, as I always have been!"**

 **Was that the reason then? Kallen thought back on her mother's actions and realized. Shina had stayed in the Stadtfeld house as a maid just to be close to her daughter.**

 **The Knight Policeman pulled a progressive knife from his frame, ready to skewer Kallen's cockpit, but she managed to catch the blow at the last second. She fired her slash harkens at a series of shelving units and got lucky, the harpoons burrowing deep into the thick metal wall, then tried recalling them, instead pulling herself, and the other Glasgow, the dirty cop's cockpit smashing in half against the shelving, killing him instantly.**

Gino gawked. He thought he'dd seen it all in his short time as a knight, but it seemed even he could still be shocked by violence.

"That's brutal!"

Cornelia and Guilford huffed in unison.

"Good riddance."

 **Luckily Kallen wasn't hurt, and Shina was unharmed too. She sat smiling, babbling to herself about all the wonderful things her daughter could have since she was Britannian, the fight going completely unnoticed.**

 **Zero stood closeby, gazing upon Shina questioningly, and far up above the scene, standing atop a rafter, C.C. was present too.**

 **'False tears bring pain to those around you,' she considered to herself. 'A false smile brings pain to one's self.'**

Kaguya blinked in surprise.

"How did she get up there?"

Rakshata tutted back

"Super-soldier?"

"Oh, right."

 **Kallen was back in her school uniform having brought her mother to the hospital following the Black Knights raid, and a nurse was informing her about Shina's condition.**

 **"It's an after-effect of refrain. She's unable to talk much. She'll recover eventually, but it will take time."**

 **"Mother, your sentence..." Kallen was hesitant as she spoke, Shina remaining still and unresponsive. "You got 20 years."**

"What?" Cécile balked at Kallen's words onscreen. "20 years?! Just for drug possession!?"

The Kallen of the present could understand the bluette's disbelief. She'd shared it herself when she found out.

"Britannian law was pretty strict about illegal drugs. The sentencing could range a lot though, and Elevens usually got the max possible..."

" **But you wait!" the redhead continued tearfully. "I'm working to change things when you get out! I swear to you! I'll make a world where you and I can live a normal life again! So please... Mother...!**

 **Shina placed a hand on Kallen's own, her face still blank and unchanging.**

 **"Hang in there..." Her voice was trembling, the mere act of speaking taking a tremendous effort. "Hang in there, Kallen. My little girl..."**

 **"Don't you worry! I will. I promise you!"**

With that the screen went black and the audience was left in awkward silence. Eventually though, Rivalz spoke up.

"Well, that was depressing."

LLLLLLLLLLLL


End file.
